Hogwarts isn\u2019t the only school that is obsessed with its houses.\u00a0 Harvard also believes in sorting its students into one of several houses that become ridiculously competitive with one another.\u00a0 A few differences?\u00a0 Hogwarts only has four houses while Harvard has twelve.\u00a0 Oh yeah, and Hogwarts is a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry while Harvard isn\u2019t (though we like to believe otherwise \ud83d\ude09 )!<\/p>\n
Like I was saying, due to the tight-knit nature of the houses, house competition can be fierce.\u00a0 And no day showcases this competitive spirit than Housing Day.<\/p>\n
Before I continue, I feel that I should probably fill you in on some Harvard vocabulary:<\/p>\n
Houses<\/em> \u2013 there are twelve large houses on Harvard\u2019s campus that are comprised of living spaces for sophomores, juniors, and seniors.\u00a0 Each house also has a dining hall, common rooms, and a bunch of other amenities that vary per house (squash courts, gyms, climbing walls, theater spaces, movie rooms, etc.).\u00a0 Houses are grouped into neighborhoods of three.\u00a0 The houses (grouped by their neighborhoods) are as follows: Mather, Dunster, and Leverett; Lowell, Quincy, and Adams; Winthrop, Elliot, and Kirkland; and Currier, Cabot, and Pforzeihmer.\u00a0 For a better idea of where each of these houses is, visit http:\/\/map.harvard.edu<\/a>.\u00a0 (Can\u2019t find the last group of houses?? Scroll to the upper left for a ways, and you\u2019ll see them.)<\/p>\n Housing lottery<\/em> \u2013 the mysterious system that randomly assigns freshmen blocking groups into houses.<\/p>\n Blocking group<\/em> \u2013 a group of up to eight freshmen that are guaranteed to be in the same house.<\/p>\n Linking groups<\/em> \u2013 two blocking groups can \u201clink\u201d and they are guaranteed to be in the same neighborhood.<\/p>\n River Houses<\/em> \u2013 the older houses that run along the Charles River and are often close to Harvard Square\u2026 unless you are in Mather or Dunster.<\/p>\n The Quad<\/em> \u2013 the houses that when looking at the map of Harvard, you had to scroll to the far upper-left.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry, they\u2019re not as far as they look, shuttles run every 10 minutes, and the housing is MUCH nicer.<\/p>\n Blocking drama<\/em> \u2013 the imbalance of emotion that can result when trying to finalize your blocking group.<\/p>\n River Run<\/em> \u2013 the night before Housing Day when freshman visit each house.\u00a0 Traditionally, students used to build boats, write the names of the houses they didn\u2019t want on the bottom, put them in the Charles River, and burn them.\u00a0 This all ended when members of the Class of 2012 came up with the smart idea to build a really BIG boat and fill it with cans of Axe body spray so that it exploded in the middle of the river (Ok, I\u2019m not gonna lie, I find this to be awesome).\u00a0 Now, Harvard Police, Cambridge Police, AND Massachusetts State Troopers line the river on River Run, so sadly this tradition has come to an end.<\/p>\n Housing Day<\/em> \u2013 the day in which freshmen find out what house they will be in for the next three years.\u00a0 This is BIG for the freshman and the upper classmen who get dressed up and run from dorm to dorm to surprise us at 8:00 am.\u00a0 Festivities continue throughout the day with a celebratory reception in each house that night.<\/p>\n Because my roommates and I are so close, the five of us decided to block together with one other good friend who lives in Matthews \u2013 a dorm in the Yard.\u00a0 I unfortunately could only catch the later part of River Run as I was busy writing a grant to fund a volunteer program I run (more on that later), but from what everyone said, it was a BLAST!<\/p>\n The next morning, our proctor and Peer Advising Fellows (awesome upper classmen that provide advice about anything and everything) greeted our floor with Dunkin\u2019 Doughnuts as we all sat in wait to find out what house we were assigned.\u00a0 As hoards of cheering and shouting students stormed our dorm, my room anxiously waited as each group passed by\u2026 each time putting a tick mark next to each house listed on our newspaper wall.\u00a0 But finally, a loud, obnoxious group in green came roaring up the stairs and barging into our room shouting, \u201cCURRIER! CURRIER!\u201d<\/p>\n