Montana Miller '96 never thought her experience as an acrobat in a French circus would be handy in navigating around her Dunster House room.

In the cramped space of her room, Miller walks a tightrope to avoid her roommate's harp while she performs handstands before diving practice.

"The harp sort of cramps my acrobatic style," she said.

Though house masters said that overcrowding in sophomore rooms has decreased this year, statistics cannot comfort the students whose new residences are a far cry from first-year comfort.

David Nuzum '96 didn't expect to spend his first year in Eliot House sleeping on a couch in his common room.

"When we first saw the room, we couldn't believe three people were supposed to live in there," Nuzum said. "We thought a bedroom was missing or something."

In fact, nothing was missing, but two students were slated to live in a room intended for one.

"We had to stock furniture and move the desk out just to bring in the chair," he said.

Downstairs from Nuzum, Jeremy Faro '96 has to practically leap over his bed to reach the toilet.

"People are totally surprised when they come into our room," Faro said.

Some sophomore rooms in Dunster House, Winthrop House, and Eliot House have three students in one bedroom, which students said makes it difficult to sleep in the room at the same time.

Crowding conditions are totally unpredictable, according to Carol Finn, assistant to the master in Dunster House.She said the situation has improved slightly thisyear because more students took time off and movedoff campus than before.

Finn added that two students living in twosmall rooms is not "overcrowding, just cramped."

"Just because we live in times of equalitydoesn't mean everyone gets equal sized rooms," shesaid.

But it seems sophomores in spacious rooms inQuincy, Adams, Leverett, and Kirkland Houses havethings a little more equal than others.

Susan Lee '96 described her room in QuincyHouse as "pallatial, more than I could dream of,"with two fireplaces, three single rooms and adouble for five people.

Yet even those cursed with small rooms havefound hope in their plights. "Our room was homeyright when we moved in," said Tonenson, while herdownstairs housemate Nuzum boasts, "we still havemore room than any other school."

Walker Allen '96, Tonenson's roommate, found atruly creative approach to find privacy in crampedquarters. She built a "kabouki," or cave, aroundher bed by draping sheets from the bed above her.

Miller's solution to the musical obstruction inher room is much simpler. "If [the harp] evercrowds me, I'll chop it into pieces and throw itinto the fire," she said