When Charity Yeager moved into her dorm in North Halls, she wasn't worried about sharing a bathroom with a bunch of random people or how she was going to keep her small dorm room cool in the last few weeks of heat.

That's because Yeager (sophomore-agriculture) is living in Leete Hall, a newly renovated building that now includes suites.

"My suite is really nice," Yeager said. "There's never a lot of people up in North during move in, so it was really easy to get my stuff inside and set up."

Yeager is one of more than 40,000 students who arrived in State College this weekend to begin the fall semester.

Leete Hall is the first of the three buildings in North to be renovated into two-, three- or four-person suites. However, because of last year's addition of Eastview Terrace, the number of housing options for students living on campus did not decrease.

Yeager's four-person suite has two bedrooms, a shared living area, a semi-private bathroom and air conditioning.

Housing Director Lynn DuBois said the addition of Eastview made room for about 500 more living spaces, allowing construction in North Halls to progress without interfering with housing areas.

"We finished Leete Hall ahead of schedule so students were able to move in right away, which was great," DuBois

said. "So far, students really seem to like it. These suites put more emphasis on special living options."

Yeager said she is living in the Earth House, which allows her to live with people with similar majors and interests.

"I really like the way they've set this up," she said. "Everything was new and ready to go as soon as I got here."

Elise Goodyear (freshman-kinesiology) was hard at work on freshman move-in day, but said she was pleased with how quickly the process went despite living in East Halls, which houses most incoming freshmen.

"Everyone was so friendly and helpful when I got here," Goodyear said. "I guess it's because a lot of us are in the same boat, but it was great not to stress about moving in."

DuBois added that she was also very pleased with the way move-in went throughout campus.

"This year went efficiently because we actually had about half of the freshmen move in Thursday and half move in Friday," she said.

Christina Porcaro (freshman-marketing) said that despite the hectic pace of moving in, she didn't have any problems.

"There were so many people helping and giving directions," she said. "I'm on the third floor and I didn't have any problems getting my stuff to my room."

Although Jessica Ahlum (freshman-biology) didn't have any problems moving her stuff into her room, she said she's dealing with finding enough space for it all.

"I moved into supplemental housing in Pollock [Halls] on Friday," she said. "I have seven other roommates, and although I'm adjusting I'll be happy when I can get an actual room."

Ahlum said she sent in her housing form late, which she thinks is probably the reason she didn't get an actual dorm room.

"It's a little crowded, but at least I know a lot of people up here so they helped me get settled, and if I move again they can help," she said.

DuBois said she was happy so many people moved in so easily.

"I can't believe how smoothly it went," she said. "As of Monday we only had about 400 more people to check in, and that makes it really easy for us."

DuBois said Leete is the first building to be renovated in North Halls. Holmes Hall, which is now under construction, should be ready by next fall, followed by Runkle Hall, which should be finished by fall of 2007, she said.