Breaking up is not so hard to do. Even after sharing a phone, a shower and a common room for a full year, Jacob S. Honoroff '01 sees his first-year roommates only on rare occasions. Like many sophomores, Honoroff and his three roommates from Weld went their separate ways last May.

"We had no hard feelings but we didn't have that much in common, "says Honoroff, who does not keep in touch with his ex-roommates.

For many sophomores, the people with whom they shared their first Harvard experiences--from Ec 10 problem sets to late nights at Tommy's--have now become mere acquaintances.

The process goes something like this: each spring, first-years from what the Undergraduate Housing Office calls "lottery groups" of up to 16 students. Lottery groups are then randomly placed into one of the 12 upperclass Houses.

The Housing Office says it does not keep track of how many first-years enter blocking groups with their roommates.

For some sophomores, keeping in touch with estranged roommates usually entails lunch-dates, shared activities and more than a little effort.

Christian J. Westra '01 currently lives in Dunster House with Jon P. Williams '01, a Crimson editors, who is one of his original four first-year roommates. He says he has kept in contact with Sultan S. Yassin '00 mainly through common extracurricular activities such as Model United Nations.

"We actually also write letters to our fourth roommate from last year, who is in Japan on a mission," Westrasays.

Catherine B. Cogley '01, who lives in Lowell House, agrees that keeping in touch with former roommates takes a little initiative. Although Cogley lives with four out of her five original suitemates, she says she frequently meets the fifth roommate, Holly E. Fling '01, for lunch in Kirkland House.

The Freshmen Dean's Office (FDO) creates roommate groups for the entering class but has no control over the upperclass lottery, which is run by the Housing Office. Dean of Freshmen Elizabeth Studley Nathans says in a recent e-mail that first-year roommate assignments are created without upperclass housing in mind.

"First-year housing groups are not assembled with any expectation that students will block together for their upperclass years," Nathans writes. "We are of course pleased when students form first-year friendships that carry over into upperclass blocking groups."

Nathans says classes and extracurricular activities bring many first-years into close friendships with students outside of their dorm. "Harvard students form friendships well beyond their first-year suites, entries and dorms, and because blocking groups can be as large as 16, there are multiple factors that bring groups together," she writes.

Some sophomores disagree with Nathans, saying blocking decisions would have been easier if their first-year rooms were more cohesively constructed.

Emily Y. Yang '01, who lives with three of her four roommates from last year in a Mather House suite, says that the FDO should group first-years who share interests and seem likely to live together in upperclass houses.

"I think it's really important to have a group of people you're compatible with," she says. "It's not like we all had a lot in common. Our living habits worked pretty well and our personalities didn't conflict."