You know the rooms. The Currier Ten-Man. That one in Quincy with the deck on the library roof. You've admired them. You've partied in them. Here's what it's like to live in them.

How do you get to live in a legend? How do you become the envy of your peers? Out of all of the rooms on campus, how do you end up in one that everyone knows?

The trick is to get a good lottery number. And maybe to have fate on your side.

Across Harvard's campus, there are a lot of rooms. And there are a few Rooms. Rooms that are called by names, not numbers. Rooms that go early in the lottery. Rooms with an image--a personality.

Maybe there's a Room in every house. Maybe there are only a handful.

"I think we're fulfilling our destiny by living here," says Charles P. Arnold '92. He's one of Them--the 10 Currier House seniors who have chosen (and been chosen) to spend their senior year providing a valuable service to 6400 undergraduates who need to blow off a little steam. They live in the "10-Man." That's all you need to say. Everyone knows what you mean.

"It's got to be one of the best party sites on campus--and it's ours," says Aleksi I. Suvanto '92. "We're basically living in a bar and that's what we all consider it."

On Saturday night, as a toga party rocked inside the Currier Fishbowl, the 10-Man opened its doors--and private staircase--for its inaugural party of the year. The bash, all of its residents agree, was a definite success.

It required some work--10-Man residents rotated half-hour shifts manning the bar (ID required for service) and standing by the door, keeping the crowds from flooding inside. And there were definitely crowds--both outside the door and inside the room.

The 10-Man, its residents understand, is more than just a suite. It's a responsibility. Last week, there was a meeting with the Currier House Masters, and some tutors. The purpose: to outline the rules, the alcohol policy and the building codes. To address expectations.

"They want to make sure we have fun, they want to make sure we stay in school," Charles W. "Chuckie" Hughes '92 explains.

And although the party was, as Suvanto describes it, "a full house," the Currier powers-that-be were apparently pleased with the results. Which is good news, because more trust means more parties. And that, of course, is what it's all about.

"It's just going to be the kind of senior year that you always hear about," Hughes says.

Alan Lefkowitz '92 agrees. "We're just here to have the best year of our lives."

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