David and Henning

In-person suite selection begins tomorrow at 9:30 am in the John Jay Lounge (see you there!).  Alexandra Svokos, 30/1550, tried to get annoyed at David Najem and Henning Sauerbier, 30/53, who will be picking first, but these CU soccer players were too earnest and nervous to be mad at for long.

Bwog: Do you have a plan?

Henning: We have two plans.  Our first is EC [two-person flats], because the rooms are big, it’s EC, and we’ll have a nice view and sunlight.  We have very good friends who are in a 5-person group and got a very good number too, so they can get a suite and we’ll be across the hall.  The other option is Watt studio singles.

David: If we drop into General our number is good enough to basically get our own NYC apartment at Columbia.  We feel really lucky and want to make the most of our decision, so we’re trying to weigh our options.  We’re gonna go knocking on doors and shopping around a little bit.  It’s nice to have the first pick, but it definitely comes with pressure because we don’t want to mess up–

H: Because then everyone will laugh at us.

B: So you guys are feeling pressured?

D: The most pressure is from our friends: they want to know what we’re doing and obviously want us to live [in EC]. That’d be a great experience, but we have first pick–why wouldn’t you go for the best housing?

H: The Watt single is definitely the hottest room on campus.  The cutoff was 30/89 last year.

B: I can’t talk to you anymore I’m getting annoyed.

D: We feel bad talking to people about it!!

B: At least you’re taking it seriously…

D: Housing is a big deal at Columbia–or any school–it’s the social experience, and for us it’s how close we are to the bus and restaurants we need, so a lot goes into this decision.  Location is everything.  We’re applying every variable.

B: Are you big Milano fans?

H: Pretty big, absolutely.  For me the biggest thing is the subway, I go downtown a lot.  Although from EC you can walk across campus…it’s not that bad…

D: I do think we’re Broadway guys, though.

B: Are you living together this year too?

H: We’re in Ruggles right now, 6-person suite.

D: That’s a whole other story of luck.  Last year we had an absolutely terrible number, 2949.  We ended up getting like the last Ruggles suite–it was the latest a Ruggles suite has ever gone, in history.  We just got so lucky.

H: The year before we had a mediocre number and mediocre rooms in Nussbaum.

D: I feel like we’ve experienced everything in this Columbia housing process.  To finish like this…it’s definitely good.

B: Are your friends mad at you?

H: Well they got number 175…

D: We were in the locker room when numbers came out.  They saw their number and we looked at each other and thought, “there’s no way we’re gonna get a better number than that.”

H: And then I took my phone out and was like, “Naj–you won’t believe it.”

B: So you all won the lottery?!  

H: The guys were freaking out.  We were all screaming, jumping, hugging.

D: Once we found out we went even crazier–what are the odds that we’d match their number?

H: And then we immediately started calculating probabilities…

D: It got pretty intense.

B: Are you gonna have a theme in your giant room(s)?

H: I’m very concerned about what we’re gonna pick for now.  Once that’s out of my mind, we can start thinking about how to use it. But we’ll make a nice room out of it. Naj and I are pretty clean, so it’ll be clean. But no big plans yet–step by step.

Interview edited for brevity.

Bwog misses picture day via Go Columbia Lions