When Thea De Armond ’09 went to her kitchen in 344 Wash. (formerly Film House) one morning to have a waffle, she found one missing from the freezer she shares with her housemates. After searching the house, she discovered, sitting on top of the trash, a waffle with a single bite taken out of it.

“I mean, they didn’t eat the waffle, they just took it. They could at least have eaten it,” De Armond said.

De Armond lives in a housing situation common for many sophomores who, due to both the high amount of entering freshmen and low amount of students going abroad, were put into undesirable housing such as living in one-room doubles and with people they did not know.

“There’s not communication at all; it’s just silent animosity,” said Lisa Sussman ’09, another member of the house.

Like many others who suffered the bad luck of unfavorable General Room Selection (GRS) numbers, both Sussman and her roommate, who share a one-room double, are looking to change their housing. Since they did not decide to move before Nov. 1, however, they will now not be able to submit a moving request form until two weeks into spring semester.

“The reason we stop between Nov. 1 and spring is to place students coming back from study abroad,” said Director of Residential Life Fran Koerting. “We need to wait two weeks because some students’ plans change; they’re not coming back, they say they’re leaving and don’t. If we did it sooner that that, we might not [know] all the options [that are] open.”

The only option they have to move otherwise would be if a space opened up in a Lo Rise or some other group housing, and all other house members signed a “pull-in” form requesting that student.

Sussman and her roommate, however, would most ideally like to find singles in the Hewitt or Nicolson dorms. Unfortunately for them and all other sophomores in similar situations, they will likely be facing a slim housing selection. After housing has been provided for all students returning from abroad, additional considerations including class year, the time a request is submitted, and other special circumstances are taken into account, which oftentimes leaves some students stuck where they are.

“We think about how extreme is their circumstance, how much is their need. It could be things aren’t working out with their roommate or they need personal space, or for their studying purposes,” Koerting said. “It could be that their schedules just really conflict.”

According to Koerting, however, one-room doubles are sophomore appropriate housing, and simply being a sophomore in a double is not a special circumstance.

Juniors like Amanda Duch ’08 will probably be able choose from a larger list of available singles. Duch, who currently lives in a single in 202 Wash., though, is not picky.

“I just want a change,”she said. “Here’s what I wrote on my form: anywhere else.”

Special circumstances and early requests aside, a few sophomores just got lucky. Gabe Gonzalez-Kreisberg ’09, for instance, currently lives in a one-room single in Hewitt 10. His roommate plans to move out, however, essentially leaving him with a large single.

“I’m going to be alone … they’re not going to place anyone in the room because it would probably be a junior,” he said. “We really didn’t have to even deal with ResLife.”

Although Sussman and her roommate, Sarah Edelman ’09, tried to move earlier in the semester, they found it wasn’t worth the effort.

“When I tried to change rooms this semester the only options they gave us was a one-room double in 156 High. Later they accidentally took our names off the list,” Edelman said. “It was made really difficult; it wasn’t even worth the move.”

For people returning from abroad, the most difficult thing seems not to be finding singles, but finding open housing near friends. Those who did not coordinate spots in advance now find themselves frantically contacting friends via e-mail to discover what spaces might be open.

“It sucks,” wrote Elissa Gross ’08 via e-mail. Gross is currently studying in Italy. “I’ve had to harass all my friends to find open spots…[my friend] tried to pull me in, and he’s a senior so they gave him crap. Now I still don’t know if [the housing] I want will be open.”

Edelman conceded that housing going to people coming back from abroad first was probably a better solution was not readily apparent.

“It is kind of fair, I guess,” Edelman said. “I can’t really say it’s not, because [otherwise] they would get screwed over. I mean, just because they [studied] abroad, it shouldn’t mean they get bad housing when they get back.”

Her roommate Sussman, however, disagreed.

“It’s just kind of fucked up that we got screwed over twice.”