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If there were such a thing as anti Christmas, this period of the year would certainly qualify. Christmastime is filled with warmth, love for one’s fellow man and the sweet spice of gingerbread lingering on your taste buds. In contrast, Housing Season is a bitter period of hard truths, crushed friendships, and the taste of your own bitter tears.
Housing season brings out the very worst in Barnard students. Good lottery numbers are more precious than gold. To the unlucky holder of an undesireable number, someone with a good lottery number makes them subject to a sort of process of mercurial emotion that usually ends in heartbreak. Thus, one is unlucky if she has a good number, for she becomes the object of jealousy and false friendship. One is also unlucky if she has a low number, because she may be kicking it in a shoebox double in Plimpton or a closet in Elliot.
How, one might wonder, is it possible to stay sane during housing season? Here are a few suggestions as to how an administrative nightmare can become a dream suite.
1)  Be flexible. Yes, you may have been planning on living in that amazing suite in Plimpton and having a single, but the way things worked out, you’re getting a double. Of course it’s disappointing, but try to focus on the positive and adjust. You’ll still get to live with your friends, and you will be so much closer to your roomie.
2)  Be understanding. You may have thought that everyone that said they were living in your suite next year was as serious as you. When a friend ditches, it’s hard not to take it personally, especially when it mars the configuration of your suite. But be mature – don’t sacrifice friendships over housing. It may initially sting to have a friend ditch, but odds are it isn’t personal and you may have made a similar decision given the same circumstances as your friend.
3)  Don’t live with someone if you aren’t 100% comfortable. This is where there is trouble in paradise. If you know you have a problem with somebody who might potentially be in your suite (let’s call her Untidy Ursula), find somewhere else to have. Opting for a single alone is better than a single in a space where you will quickly become upset. You’ll be happy to be on the outside if other girls wind up finding it difficult to live with UU,
4)  Be realistic. Plan for a housing configuration that’s consistent with your lottery number, or you’ll just be disappointed.
If you keep these four tips in mind, the housing crisis will solve itself. Remember to remain objective, be confident in your decisions, and don’t let the housing lottery rob you of friends. The truth is that in a broader context, we should all feel grateful to even have promise of a roof over our heads.