The Housing Market: How to Banish Blocking Drama

The following post is the first in a series about our favorite time of the year, that delightful, drama-filled, defining morning called Housing Day. Follow us as we introduce you to House life, review various aspects of the twelve Houses, and dispense tips on everything from blocking to boat making. We'll be keeping you company as you await your Housing destiny.

Your best friend is crying. Your roommates are either screaming at each other or giving you passive-aggressive stares. Meanwhile, you're still pondering whether you'd rather just give up and float or gouge your eyes out with a rusty spoon so you don't have to look at your painfully empty blocking form ever again. Sound familiar? Well, we’re here to give you a crash course in avoiding tearful/obnoxious/existentially-disconcerting blocking day drama.

Tip 1: Stop doing that awkward avoid-the-elephant-in-the-room mumble whenever someone tries to bring up blocking.

The sooner you start talking about blocking, the sooner you can start discussing how and when you're going to break the news to “that kid that no one likes.” Also, the sooner you bring up blocking, the sooner you can figure out who can fake claustrophobia so you don't get put in a room the size of a shoebox in Winthrop.

Tip 2: Don't think too much about whom you link with.

Hell, link with the people you like the least to ensure that you absolutely can't be in the same House as them. It seriously does not matter whom you link with at all. You will never see them and most likely won't even be able to name them. The only time you'll interact with your linkmates is when you awkwardly hook up with one of them post-River Run and wake up to an enthusiastic group of also half-naked Currierites the next morning.

Tip 3: Don't stress if you need emergency blockmates.

The group you thought you were going to block with ditched you, and all of a sudden you find yourself alone! Do not panic, but definitely do not send a desperate 3 a.m. e-mail over your dorm list enumerating why “those bitches can die” or anything foolish like that. Try to figure out if anyone you know from extracurricular activities has space for another person in their blocking group, and if desperate times call for desperate measures, be sure to mention the 50-inch plasma TV that you just happened to bring to school.

Tip 4: Don't block with your current love interest.

If you're into living in a comfortable, safe, homey environment, then please don't block with your current romantic interest. If you're into awkward post-breakup dhall run-ins and hearing alleged ex-romantic interest consummate his love with alleged new-romantic interest through traumatically thin walls, then by all means go ahead.

Tip 5: Don't worry about who you want to room with.

Blocking means that you're just going to be in the same House, not that you have to live in the same room. The time to awkwardly tell your friends that the floor is not a rotten food storage receptacle or that 5 a.m. is not an acceptable wake-up time comes later, during the “who is going to room with who” conversation. But you don't have to deal with that yet. Procrastinate accordingly.

Tip 6: Keep gender in mind.

Make sure that there are other people of your gender in your blocking group. As much as being the only girl in a seven-guy blocking group makes you “one of those girls that can hang with the guys”, it also makes you “one of those girls who is going to float into a tiny triple in Kirkland with complete weirdo strangers.”