At first glance, 118 Sproul Hall looks like a normal supplemental room: six lofted beds, each with a desk and a chest of drawers beneath it.

On the desks are all the items you'd expect to find: baseball caps, a laptop and a plastic bag containing shampoo, shaving cream, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Posters of Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Bob Marley, Outkast and Phish line the walls.

There is one subtle difference from the other supplemental rooms. A seventh bed -- positioned against the far wall -- with a sign next to it that says "Reserved for President Spanier."

"I thought it was a prank," Cory Templeton (freshman-anthropology and religion), a resident of 118 Sproul, said of the sign, which he first saw when he moved in Wednesday. "It took me a really long time to actually believe it."

During each move-in weekend of his 12-year tenure, Penn State President Graham Spanier has spent a night or two in the residence halls with students in an effort to better understand the inner workings of the student body. On Thursday, Spanier spent the evening with five residents of 118 Sproul Hall; Craig Cox (freshman-English and psychology), Alex Bays (freshman-Japanese), Andrew Ramos (freshman-history), Pat Broderick (freshman-psychology) and Templeton.

On Thursday morning, Templeton's first full day as a Penn State student, he received an early wakeup call. Spanier came into the room at about 9 a.m. to drop off some of his things for the evening. Templeton, seeing Spanier enter the room, immediately jumped out of bed to introduce himself, despite the fact that he was still in his underwear.

"It was an instinctive thing," Templeton said. "A great first impression," he added, laughing. "Meet the president in your underwear and shake his hand."

After a day filled with orientation activities, Templeton returned to his room at about 11 p.m. to find Spanier entertaining two fifth-floor Sproul residents with some magic tricks.

"For me, it's one of the best things I can do as president," Spanier said. "When you spend time with students, you can do little things to make the university better." He added that he usually finds a few new ways to improve student life at Penn State through his time spent in the residence halls.

Ramos and Broderick didn't stick around the room very long, but for the duration of the evening, Templeton, Bays and Cox basked in the newfound popularity swirling around the famous visitor in their new home.

At about 1:10 a.m., a group of six girls from the third floor of Sproul Hall showed up at the door of the room. They had heard that Spanier was spending the night, but were apprehensive.

Bays was happy about all the attention.

"We're the place to be," he announced to the room as the girls posed for pictures with Spanier.

The events of move-in day began to take their toll on Spanier and the other residents of 118 Sproul at about 1:20 a.m. Spanier changed into his pajamas -- a blue "Penn State intramural champions" T-shirt and gray shorts -- sat on the edge of his bed and fiddled with his BlackBerry.

Templeton and Cox went to their desks to put on some music.

"Sometimes you expect [administrators] up here to be really strict," Cox said. "But he's doing magic tricks, cracking jokes. It's definitely a great way to kick off my freshman year."