“There were concerns because I had never really hung out with her in a social setting,” he admits. “At home you’re kind of in a family setting, and it’s more of a family relationship.”

But Niall says that being in a college setting has allowed him to see a side of his sister he never knew before.

“The only problem is that I’m super protective,” Niall admits. “So as much as I love going out and partying with Petra, I have to grit my teeth a little bit because I’m a guy and I know what guys think.”

And while having a protective older brother as a part of college social life would frustrate some, Petra says it doesn’t bother her.

“I know he is there whenever I need him and that is more important than worrying about him being overprotective,” she says. “I see it as support more than protection because I know he will be there no matter what.”

THE COLLEGE RELATIONSHIP

In high school, Alex and her brother Michael became close friends and started moving in the same social circle. With only a year separating them, what began as a close brother-sister relationship became a tight-knit friendship.

“Our group of friends overlapped a lot and we were friends with each other’s friends,” she says. “It got to a point that I could call his best friends to hang out even if he wasn’t there.”

And this year is no different. “I have become friends with all his friends again,” she says. “They have all become extended brothers to me, just like it was in high school.”

Michael agrees and says that having Alex join him this September was like falling back into old routines.

“It was like having one of my best friends from high school coming to college with me, except a year late,” he says. “Our relationship has stayed the exact same.”

But for Niall and Petra being together at college has changed their relationship.

“I feel like we relate to each other better here,” Petra says. “I don’t really know why.”

Niall shares similar feelings. “In the short time we’ve been here, we have already become so much closer,” he says. “I think it’s because we can rely on each other and we know we have each other’s backs.”

But such a close relationship can have its drawbacks with an older brother’s presence hanging over his younger sister.