Gilmore Girls is something everyone is familiar with. It is a famous TV show and its main characters, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, are even more so. And now here we have a real-life duo who are just like the Gilmore Girls. Michelle and Felicia Deonarine proudly consider themselves as the Gilmore girls of Northeastern University. They are best friends, living and studying together. Keeping each other updated through texts, and eating the Friday night takeout together have become their ritual now.
These 2018 graduates started their journey in 2016, promising themselves and to each other that they will work hard for the degree – which they eventually did. Michelle Deonarine is a graduate student in Northeastern’s pediatric nurse practitioner program. “We’ve had a long journey,” says Michelle, “It’s so great that we’ll be able to share this milestone.”
Felicia has the same thoughts. She is a fifth-year English and Architecture major. “These past few semesters have been a wild ride for the both of us with a lot of ups and downs,” she says. “But we got through it together as we always do with everything.”
When both of them decided to enroll at the university, it was a wonderful but tedious experience. The University put forward a challenge to our Gilmore girls. While Michelle found it difficult to juggle her work and classes, Felicia changed her major two times. It accompanied pulling several all-nighters in Northeastern’s architecture studio. “It was tough,” says Michelle. “Some nights I cried in the shower because it was very intense.” That’s when both become each other’s support. Felicia helped her with her PowerPoint class presentations. Michelle, being the mother that she is, took care of Felicia’s health. “I’m her personal nurse,” she jokes. “If she complains of a headache, I’ll ask, “Did you sleep? Is that your sixth cup of coffee?”
Felicia credits Michelle for who she is today. “My mom has been instrumental in making my dreams come true,” she says. “I would not be who I am or where I am today without her love and support.”
Felicia and Michelle Deonarine are the real Gilmore Girls. As the daughter puts it, “We’re a couple of goofballs.”
Pranjali Wakde