Brandeis first-years shared mixed emotions with their first housing selection experience on Sunday in the Levin Ballroom.The greatest ease of the housing lottery went to number one recipient Robyn Goldstein '07, who, with seven of her friends, took the first Rosenthal eight-person suite of the day.

"[When I got number one] I was shocked," Goldstein said, "I didn't expect a good number."

Goldstein had planned ahead with her friends.

"Me and some of my friends planned it that we would get a Rosenthal if one of us got a good number," she said.

Though Goldstein had to arrive early at 9 a.m., there was no waiting.

"We were out by about 9:05," she said.

Others were not as fortunate. By the low teens, the wait from start to finish was already over 30 minutes.

"It's like waiting in a line for a ride at Universal Studios," said Jonathan Mizrahi '07, who got pulled into a Rosenthal suite with lottery number 17, courtesy of Rebecca Gedalius '07.

"The whole system seems to be organized chaos," David B. Weiss '07 said regarding the housing system. "It seems there ought to be a better way, but I don't know what it would be."

This year, Rosenthal Quad was broken up into 11 eight-person suites. Ten other suites were also divided four and four-students choosing a four-person Rosenthal will be living with four other students whom they may not know.

Gedalius and her friends managed to grab the last of the eight-person Rosenthals, forcing those with a few higher numbers to rally.

"We were originally hoping for an eight person Rosenthal," Kate Kosstrin '07 said. "[But] we were OK with not getting the eight, because we had two numbers low enough to get two fours in the same suite."

Not everyone wanted Rosenthal though.

Weiss was pulled by number 12 into a four-person castle suite. "We wanted a smaller suite, with only four people, without having to worry about sharing it with other people," he said.

While Rosenthal and Castle Suites were the first to go, many singles in Castle and East were still available. Annie Rosenberg '07 took one of the last singles in Castle overlooking the courtyard.

With number 247, Annie says she feels "lucky."

"I wanted to be on the other side of the Castle, in tower B or C with a view of Boston," Annie said. "I am in C, with two huge windows and a sink, it's awesome. And I'm in the Castle."

The new neighborhood system this year allowed students to pull in friends to another room nearby.

Jenny Feinberg '07 was pulled in by Sean Hogan '07 with number 89. Hogan took a single and Feinberg took a double in East.

As of 9:31 p.m., all of Rosenthal, East,and the Castle were filled, and the remaining students had to take either singles in Massell or North Quads or be placed on the housing waiting list for other options.

New this year was an online update system, developed by Adam Batkin, which allowed students waiting in Usdan, or anywhere else on campus to learn what had been taken and what was still available, allowing the higher numbers to change their plans as necessary.

Juniors and seniors began selecting their housing last night. As of press time, no suites in Ziv Quad, two Foster Apartments and three four-person Ridgewoods remained. There are still 82 singles left in the Village. The housing lottery stopped for the night at number 1160.