Housing selection can be a nightmare. As seniors, we can choose wherever we would like to live on campus. After years of crappy housing numbers and the subsequent mandatory meal plan in the quad or a closet-sized room in Elliott, finally we can choose decent living. Cathedral Gardens is the perfect choice for seniors.

The suites have a definite apartment-like quality. One need only share a bathroom with four other girls-a bathroom, I might add, that has two showers and a separate room for the toilet. This is a nice change from Plimpton, where one might wake up having to make that morning bathroom run, finding oneself locked outside the door doing a dance until the bathroom is available. The kitchen is a blessing because not only is everything new, and therefore working, but there is-drumroll, please-a dishwasher! The common room at CG is huge and furnished with a dining room table, a love seat, a lounge chair, and an end table-a nice change from the lack of a common room in Plimpton and in 620. The hardwood floors and the huge amount of light that shines through the gigantic windows are beautiful luxuries. Who would ever think that a college dorm in New York could be so beautiful and functional?

If you can get past the hike to campus (about 10 minutes to Columbia, 15-20 to Barnard), then Cathedral Gardens is heaven. Besides the great accommodations in the building itself, the neighborhood is different from the standard dorm surroundings. Not only is the building next to the M4 bus stop and the B and C subway trains, but the restaurants are great. Central Park is across the street, and it's nice to be able to separate school life from one's living space.

Having lived in Cathedral Gardens for a few weeks now, I can say that Barnard really does love us. As more students come to Barnard for its great academics and student services, housing fills up rapidly, causing some problems-for example, in 2005, Barnard had to turn some large singles in Plimpton into doubles. Rather than solving the housing situation by eliminating the four-year guarantee of campus housing-a guarantee that is incredibly generous and imperative to the continued vitality of the college-the beautiful, strong, independent Barnard women now have one more housing option-and one that is not too shabby.