Pros:

  • You get to be festive and wear pink ribbons and demonstrate merriness.
  • Strangers are likely to give you free chocolate.
  • If you have a significant other, the two of you are probably going to have a jolly romantic time.
  • People talk about the valentines they received from their family, which is so fun, because I sort of thought I was the only loser whose parents did that.
  • Your classes are a little bit sillier, because it’s a holiday and everyone’s high on sugar and love.
  • Your dad might send you a “Happy Valentine’s Day” text!!
  • Crazy things happen, such as:

This is Fusion, one of Brown’s dance groups, performing in the Blue Room. Unannounced. It was spectacular. I could only take spontaneous video on my phone though, so forgive the quality.

Cons:

  • Being single on Valentine’s day is really not fun (incidentally, having a perpetually-busy boyfriend is also somewhat not-fun, but being single is in my experience more depressing).
  • You don’t have to eat anything other than cookies and cupcakes, so you may spend the entire day oscillating between sugar high and epic crash.
  • There is intense pressure to be cute and romantic.
  • Sometimes you just want to curl up in bed with a movie and not be acting out a sad scene from a bad movie in which the girl is alone on Valentine’s day, because that’s not what’s up.
  • Your friends will potentially have dates of their own and therefore cannot hang out with you.
  • They made that really terrible movie about it.