Pared says the food early in the morning doesn't boast the usual dining hall staleness.
"Sometimes the food's actually better. The muffins are warmer," she says, gesturing with the half-eaten corn muffin in her hand.
But as students get older and perhaps more stressed, the early morning food interest seems to shift. In the houses, students seem to go for the coffee before the carbohydrates.
"I really like getting up for the gourmet coffee," Kronenberg says. "The coffee is what gets me out of bed."
The Work
Every morning, however, the regular groups are augmented by last-minute studiers.
"I come to breakfast, but not this early," Lowell House resident Esther Safre '97 says. "I have to study." She has a spiral notebook in her lap and papers surrounding her tray.
Paolillo says Lowell's breakfast is packed during exam periods.
Lowell House resident Jean M. Hammel '97 is surrounded by textbooks and class notes for an Orgo exam.
"I come whenever I have a lot of work," she says. "It's not as stressful as the library."
Quincy House resident Vinh X. Truog '95 has breakfasted each morning for the past two years, "mostly to do work. I get to sleep early."
And Crimson editor and Lowell House resident Samuel J. Rascoff '96 is up for the same reason. "There are no disturbances, no roommates and no noise," he says.
Despite the hot eighties movie of the same name, it's doubtful that Harvard will ever have an official "breakfast club."
The potential members aren't there for social conversation or adolescent bonding, but for the lack thereof.
And it would never be a big club, anyway: Many more potential members, like first-year Brooke S. Donovan, would refuse to join.
"If I didn't have to, I wouldn't wake up this early," she groans.