Kaartiga Sivanesan ‘06, Grant D’Arcy ‘06, Pauline W. Klyce ‘06, Rebecca G. Pomerantz ‘06 cheer in Annenberg for Lowell House. Upperclassmen from all houses descended on the dining hall to welcome freshman yesterday.

First-years crisscrossed the Yard early yesterday morning, shouting cheers as they hurried to share their housing assignments with friends.

From about 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. yesterday, first-years received notice of their new homes for the next three years of College.

“It was the first time that we had woken up that early in awhile,” said Daniel A. Koh ’07. According to Koh, however, after finding out he was placed in Winthrop House, it was well worth the early rise.

“Winthrop is a nice community with a cozy dining hall,” said Koh, whose blockmates include Andrew B. Casey ’07, Jason M. Degnan-Rojeski ’07, David A. Sanford ’07, Erich V. Scheller ’07, Clinton M. Siegfried ’07, John F. Voith ’07 and Robert M. Yribarren ’07.

After the initial exchanges, students banded together with new housemates and trekked to Annenberg, the first-year dining hall, to take part in their annual welcoming to upperclass life. All 12 residential Houses—including for the first time Adams House—were present, and members from each House shook salutatory posters, chanted and all but attacked their incoming sophomores.

“I thought it was one of the most spirited things I’ve seen at Harvard,” said Sarah C. Duncan ’07. “We definitely had drunk upperclassmen coming up to us saying, ‘Does your House have this? Because ours does.’”

“I think everybody should be happy with the House they have, instead of saying, ‘Our House is better than yours,’” said Duncan in a statement that echoed the back of the Quincy House t-shirt. The back of the t-shirt, given to new Quincyites, read, “DAMN RIGHT, It’s Better Than Yours,” alluding to the Kelis’ hit single “Milkshake.”

Last night, Duncan and her blockmates set sail to a flaming pink and green shoebox boat emblazoned with “Adams” and “Eliot” in large letters, hoping to persuade fate that they belonged in a River House.

The ritual seemed to have worked since the blocking group, which also consists of Stefanie L. Botelho ’07, Julia M. Chandler ’07, Gayatri S. Datar ’07, Maura A. Graul ’07 and Kathleen E. Walro ’07, will live in Lowell House next year.

While inevitably some were at first disappointed by their housing assignments, other blocking groups also succeeded in getting their top choices.

FALSE ALARM

At 6 a.m. yesterday, Ashley M. Nathanson ’07 didn’t wake up to the sounds of screaming that generally accompany the release of housing results, but instead to a fire alarm.

Following a long night of pre-housing rituals, complete with a manifesto and a toast to each of the River Houses, Nathanson was exhausted by the earlier than expected start.

When her blockmates from Lionel Hall and Matthews Hall woke her up for the second time to inform her of their new home, she had been battling with her alarm clock’s snooze button for several minutes.

“I couldn’t even read [the housing letter] because everyone was grabbing at it,” said Nathanson.