Tufts Blogs

We may be trying to stop the spread of covid here at Tufts, but we certainly aren’t stopping the spread of love. Valentine’s Day this year evolved along with all of our other practices on campus, and here is what it looked like.

Valentine’s Day in Lewis Hall:

Early last week, my RA, Emily, asked us to email her anonymous messages to send to our friends in the hall. On Valentine’s Day, she printed out little red hearts with the messages typed on the back. Then, she slid them under our doors. I got two—one read "Thistle be the best day ever," and the other read "u are such a good person." Of course, it is always great to hear that you are a good person with a good day ahead of you, so I loved this Valentine's Day activity!

Valentine’s day in Theta:

Theta included all of its sisters in a Secret Galentine’s Day gift exchange. A few days before Valentine’s day, we entered a random name drawing, and received the name and address of the sister for whom we were supposed to buy a gift. I got a senior who I have never met before, and I had a lot of fun putting together little goodies to make her day special. Then, I left her gift outside her dorm, since we aren’t allowed in each other’s living areas. A few hours later, she friended me on Facebook and thanked me, and I got to connect with a new person on campus!

Valentine’s day with Tufts Dining:

Tufts dining always puts out special treats for each holiday. For Halloween, they had pumpkin flavored drinks and candy, for Thanksgiving, they had Thanksgiving-themed dinner options, for the Super Bowl, they had wings and nachos, and so on. For Valentine’s Day, Commons, which is an eatery located in our Campus Center, sold cookie kits that we could buy with our meal swipes. Each kit came with three cookies, lots of frosting, and some pink and red sprinkles. My friend, who is also named Emma, and I decorated our cookies together (see picture above), and then ate them separately to ensure that we followed the Covid rules. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will admit that I also ate all of the remaining frosting. 

Valentine’s Day in Tufts History Society (THS):

Every year, THS hosts a Valentine’s Day meeting dedicated to our favorite historical couples. The members suggest couples (people we think could have had chemistry, whether they lived in the same time period/place, or not). Last year, the winner was Joan d’Arc and Noah from Noah’s Arc, which was a funny play on names. This year, my friend Meghan and I were pulling very hard for her suggestion of Bloody Mary and Robespierre. Robespierre led the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution in an effort to guillotine anyone who was against the Revolution. Bloody Mary was the Queen of England who burned Protestants at the stake. Meghan and I believe that because of their lust for bloodshed, they would have had a really passionate relationship, or at least a really bloody one. Unfortunately, our choice was not picked by the majority of the voters, but we enjoyed defending our power couple, and we will definitely be advocating for them again next year!

So, there you have it—love at Tufts is still shared every day, and that is what contributes to our love of Tufts. At the beginning of this past long weekend, I thought my weekend would be dull, but these little touches definitely added to my enjoyment of our three-day weekend. If you feel like your Valentine’s Day wasn’t up to snuff, My Emma’s Advice to you is to eat some frosting and treat yourself! It certainly made my weekend sweet!