Hello, 647

Author: Meg Young

I went into room draw bright-eyed, bushy tailed, and convinced that there were maybe 550 other first-years - tops - against whom I needed to fight for a room. I learned quickly that there were at least 647 (189 of them in my commons). Yes: I was the last number in room draw. (OK, maybe not - but I've yet to hear of a number higher than mine. If you had it, call x7498 to report it and be ridiculed for having such a preposterous number.)

Confused, but hopeful, (ah, first-years) I took my number to my dean, hoping to receive tips for those with high hopes and low numbers.

My dean took one look at my number and commenced laughing at me and my desolate rooming future. (Cackled, really. Sick sense of humor, if you ask me.) Dreams of my peaceful yet chicly decorated single began to crumble; in their place came nightmares of "left-over" roommates, summer draw, or - worse yet - living in Ross. As far as I was concerned, my future lay in a soggy cardboard box on Battell beach.

After being placed in summer draw and after having officially shelved all hopes of retaining any semblance of a normal dorm life, I had a stroke of sheer extroverted luck. I decided one day to drop by and visit with the dean of the commons that I was hoping to switch into - as it turns out, he happened to have an extra single in the building that I was trying to switch into! Genius. (Note: I do not endorse bombarding deans with room draw needs. Unless you are a first-year, and your number starts with a "six" and ends in a "hundred and forty seven".)

When I arrived this year, I was initially living in a new commons with unfamiliar hall-mates, however I found that - as a sophomore especially - housing makes less of an impact than one would assume. The campus is as big or small, as friendly or as distant as you make it. Despite living on the opposite end of campus from them, I still spend much of my time with my friends from my last commons who were blessed with better room draw luck. On the other hand, I discovered a whole slew of people in my new dorm that I can't imagine living without.

Turns out a bad number helped me find an experience that I might not have sought out on my own. Here's to you, number 647.