Aliyah: "Going to any other college wasn't really ever an option. I just assumed automatically that I would come to UTSA only because it is close to home. I didn't want to go far away from my parents."
Daniel: "I was actually a student at UT Austin for my first year. I decided to come here because- well one, same reason, it's closer to home. My parents are here-
Aliyah: "I'm here."
Daniel:"-and Aliyah's here- and they were kind of nagging me about it, sort of, to come back. Plus it's still part of the UT system and I am getting sort of the same degree here.
The first [difference] I noticed is a drastic difference in size of the campus."
Daniel: "She's my niece, even though she's older than me."
Aliyah: "I'm 22 and he's 19."
Daniel: "I almost forgot how old I was"
Aliyah: "I always think you're 20."
Daniel: "My dad-"
Aliyah: "-is my grandpa."
Daniel: "My dad was married to another lady-"
Aliyah: "My grandma."
Daniel: "Yeah her grandma, her name was Gloria-"
Aliyah: "It's still Gloria."
Daniel: "It is Gloria, you're right. She's not dead. They were married for like 30 years. Something like that, and then they got divorced and he met my mom and her name is Olivia, and they had me. [Aliyah's mom] is- How old is your mom 40....?"
Aliyah: "Eight."
Daniel: "48 and-"
Aliyah: "Your sister."
Daniel: "Yeah, and she's my sister. So there's a huge gap in age."
Aliyah: "I think it's good [to attend UTSA with family]."
Daniel: "Yeah, we were excited to get our schedules together. I wasn't planning on taking "The American Novel" but Aliyah said she was taking it so I decided, 'Well it's in my major so I'm sure it will be fine.'"
Aliyah: "It doesn't feel like he's my uncle."
Daniel: "Yeah whenever she introduces us she's like, 'We're cousins.'"
Aliyah: "It's easier to explain than giving the whole family background.
Oh we're faking [being close] for the interview. After this we're never speaking again.
I guess we have similar interests. Similar hobbies, we both like photography and English."
Q: "Have you guys been close since you were kids?"
Daniel: "No."
Aliyah: "Since last class I'd say."
Daniel: "Yeah. Once we found out we were both going to UTSA we just started talking a lot."
Aliyah: "It was more of a forced relationship at that point..."
Daniel: "Before that I was closer to-"
Aliyah: "-our cousin."
Daniel: "Yeah. Well her cousin, my other nephew. He's younger than me. He's like 17. I would go over to his house and Aliyah would be there but she wouldn't really hang out with us."
Aliyah: "Because I live 4 houses down from our cousin- my cousin."
Daniel: "So we didn't really hang out that much. I've really just gotten close to Aliyah in the past year or so."
Aliyah: "Apparently now my grandma and [Daniel's] mom are best friends. She called his mom recently-"
Daniel: "My mom is a crafty person and my dad and Aliyah's grandmother-
Aliyah: "-they went to Bible school together."
Daniel: "My mom, she asked [Aliyah's] grandma to help her design some center pieces. So now we have this running joke that they're best friends because they are always texting each other-
Aliyah: "-but it's strictly business."
Daniel: "-strictly business. Actually I found out that in the beginning, after the divorce, there was a lot of animosity towards my parents and that was the reason for a big split. For a few years my dad wasn't allowed to go-"
Aliyah: "-let the record show he's using air quotes."
Daniel: "-to go to birthday parties and stuff like that. After a while he just started going again because I was born and he wanted me to get closer to [Aliyah's] mom, well, my sister."
Aliyah: "What's funny is that I feel closer to your mom than I do to your dad who is my actual grandpa.
It's the new modern family! TLC's doing a special on us... tune in next week.
I don't think it's confusing since it's been since childhood."
Daniel: "Yeah it sounds difficult but it's all we've ever known.
Aliyah: "My grandma, his mom, just sit on opposite ends of the table for family functions. The only reason why one has been, I guess, weird, isn't even because of my grandma. I had a birthday party and- remember when your dad didn't come?"
Daniel: "Yeah. It wasn't because of that though..."
Aliyah: "Ok but I feel like the reason why he didn't come was because I recently- wait did I tell him, or who told him?"
Daniel: "Your mom told him."
Aliyah: "-that I have a girlfriend and he's a pastor. So then conveniently my birthday is next week and he doesn't come to my birthday party because she was going to be there."
Daniel: "I think he was actually out of town."
Aliyah: "But he's never missed my birthday ever since I was a kid so it seemed like it was-"
Daniel: "-yeah, and I asked him 'Did you miss because [Aliyah's girlfriend] was going?' and he said 'No.' I thought it was an excuse. He's still uncomfortable about it. He's uncomfortable about her tattoos. He's just really old fashioned."