Room draw has ended, at least for the class of 2007. And with it comes that endless question: Where did you pick in? A question all the more asked by those who knew, as you did, that my group had PICK NUMBER ONE.
Last night and this afternoon we were mostly decided that I would be moving into the small fourth-floor single in West, and my room-draw partner, who shall go by the illustrious name of Flippy as s/he prefers to remain unnamed, would move into a nice single in Chadbourne. West is the haven of thesis-writing seniors; I would have a room on the top floor of the building on the highest point on campus, and we were already envisioning how I would jump on a sled just outside the door to West and sled down to math class in the winter. Chadbourne is a highly desirable senior house in close proximity to the philosophy department, the preferred lair of Flippy.
After much deliberation, we had decided that splitting up to maximize each of our housing choices was better than choosing less desirable rooms nearer together. As a backup, though, we investigated the offerings of Currier, Fitch, Prospect, Agard, and Tyler. (Picking into Mission with the first pick in the rising junior class would be absurd, and we've lived in the Greylock quad for a year, so it's time to move on.)
Currier had nice senior singles open on the corners, and it is in the Odd Quad, and as the nice senior singles are on the corners of the building, I would not have to share a wall with Flippy, who prefers to play classical music at an excessively loud volume. However, the building itself is somewhat run-down.
Fitch had only one senior single left, and a palatial single it was. But there was only one, and so long as we were splitting up, we might as well take the most desirable rooms, as described above.
Prospect is a gamble, because it will be renovated this summer, which will involve knocking down walls, changing room sizes, and all manner of drastic alterations. To get an idea of what this would look like, we journeyed to Prospect Basement, which has already been renovated, and knocked on a door. The room was approximately the size of a Greylock shower stall. The occupant had to step out of the room to talk to us. It was impossible to open the door fully, because the bed was in the way. In fact, the room was barely big enough to fit the bed, much less a desk and whatever else. So Prospect was wholeheartedly out.
Agard is really far away. Flippy faked cardiac arrest multiple times on the way there. Granted, the rooms are nice -- the one we looked at had a bay window facing the lawn, although the dimensions of the room were something like 7x25 -- but we would be very isolated from what is known as "Williams College."
Tyler was our last stop, and we were very favorably impressed. The first floor has two fireplaces, a kitchen, and most importantly, a painted wooden moose head on the wall. The rooms are gigantic, and although Tyler can be a party house, living on the third floor would insulate us from most of the noise. In the end, though, it's just so far away! I would put in half of my weekly miles going to and from class. Flippy would get in shape. We could not risk such unfavorable outcomes.
When we got to the Log, we discovered that the singles in West and Chadbourne were not actually open, as reported on WSO, but reserved for language TAs. Bah! So we had to quickly make a decision: Currier? Tyler? Gamble on Prospect? As you can see from the commentary above, the choice was clear: Currier. I wanted to live on the third floor, but alas, two of the senior singles were taken, so we chose the second floor. I am safely insulated from Flippy's excessive musical exuberance by two common rooms and five singles, and yet we are still in the same quad, in the same building, and on the same floor. And we have senior singles! Wahoo!
As the title indicates, I will soon be living in the Odd Quad. I am not sure whether I will be an Odd Quadder or not -- merely living there does not automatically confer the title -- but at least I will have the chance to experience the benefits of the Odd Quad before the CUL organizes it out of existence. I actually don't think that I could ever become an Odd Quadder; I think that Odd Quadders have been Odd Quadders since long before they came to Williams, and non-Odd Quadders cannot be converted by an external force such as the room draw. But we shall see.
