{"id":4057,"date":"2012-07-24T17:10:15","date_gmt":"2012-07-24T21:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/?p=4057"},"modified":"2012-08-23T11:43:19","modified_gmt":"2012-08-23T15:43:19","slug":"guest-blog-some-thoughts-and-feelings-on-house-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/collegeadmissionsstudentblog\/2012\/07\/24\/guest-blog-some-thoughts-and-feelings-on-house-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blog: Some Thoughts and Feelings on House Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabby Malatesta, History Concentrator in Mather House, Class of 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since sophomore year I have lived in Mather House.\u00a0\u00a0 As a freshman, I was beyond excited about that for a number of reasons: I would have a single, it was on the river, the dining hall and food are awesome, etc.\u00a0 But two years later, it\u2019s safe to say the biggest reasons why I still get excited about Mather have changed quite a bit.\u00a0 While the rooms, common spaces, and dining hall are all great, the people who I see everyday are why I sing its praises to mostly everyone I meet and why I dread the day I have to leave this place.<\/p>\n

#1 \u2013 Hey, look at that, it\u2019s Mather!<\/p>\n

\"Mather<\/a><\/p>\n

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?\u00a0 Okay, so concrete may be an acquired taste<\/a>, but when I walk into the courtyard after a long day, I can\u2019t help but feel happy.\u00a0 In my opinion, that feeling is exactly what living in a residential House is all about: having a home.\u00a0 In a House, fellow students, tutors, the House Masters, administrators, and dining hall and House staff all are there for you\u2014whether you need a recommendation, personal advice, or even an eye-patch for the coming weekend\u2019s pirate-themed party.<\/p>\n

#2 \u2013 The Dining Hall: My Second Room<\/p>\n

\"Mather<\/a><\/p>\n

Here, I\u2019m in Mather\u2019s dining hall.\u00a0 In a House, the d-hall is a place for eating, studying, socializing, events, and late-night snacking, and it’s a safe bet at least one or two of those will be going on at any given time.\u00a0 It\u2019s rarely empty, and once 8:30 p.m. rolls around, you\u2019re sure to see a lot of familiar faces at Brain Break<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nothing is better than a two-hour dinner spent with friends or that feeling of solidarity that comes when you\u2019re at a table full of Matherites writing papers and doing problem sets until midnight.<\/p>\n

#3 – Housing Day<\/a><\/p>\n

“Charge!\u00a0 Mather House residents flock wildly in the Yard.\u201d\u00a0 That was the Gazette’s caption<\/a>.\u00a0 I\u2019m the one with the scarf, and we had just finished \u201cdorm-storming\u201d Matthews.\u00a0 Dorm-storming is when a hoard of upperclassmen run into freshmen rooms early in the morning to greet the ‘blocking group’ of freshman assigned to the house where they will live for their sophomore, junior, and senior years.<\/p>\n

\"Housing<\/a><\/p>\n

Housing Day can be suspenseful for freshmen, but most upperclassmen consider it the best day of the year, with as crazy a lead-up as the day itself.\u00a0 Most Houses put together a Housing Day video<\/a> (check it out below) to show freshmen why their House is so sweet (not to do too much bragging here, but back in the day, Mather gave the world the first one ever<\/a>).<\/p>\n