Happy Valentine’s Day | Miranda's Banter Blog

Today is Valentine’s Day. Whether you treat today as date night, girls night out, or self-care day, it’s just another day in the exciting journey called life. I’m sure you are wondering how students at a women’s college celebrate Valentine’s Day (if they even celebrate it at all). Sorry to disappoint you, but there’s no generalized way we Mawrters spend our Valentine’s Days. Here’s how I spent mine this year…

from a wise fortune cookie I snacked on today in class

My day started early, partially because the day before ended so late (thanks, Microbiology). At 7:30AM, I was up rushing to complete a homework assignment while getting ready for a job interview at Haverford College. I caught the 8:15AM Blue Bus to Haverford, ate breakfast in the Dining Center, and walked to Stokes for a scheduled 9AM job interview. As minutes ticked by past 9AM, I realized my job interviewers stood me up. Was this karma for joking earlier that the only date I would be getting on Valentine’s Day was this job interview? It turns out my interviewers faced some train delays getting into Philly from New York. We worked out arranging a make up phone interview, and I rushed back to Bryn Mawr on the 9:30AM Blue Bus for my 9:55AM class. I did manage to change out of my interview clothes to the usual sweatshirt and leggings, hop on my scooter, and get to class on time. I then had two back to back classes: Microbiology 9:55AM – 11:15AM and Advanced Electromagnetic Theory 11:25AM – 12:45PM.

Tuesdays are always a busy day because right after my two classes, I have to rush to eat lunch and catch the 1:30PM SEPTA train into Philly for my internship at Temple Center for Asian Health. I intern there twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays) from 2:30PM – 5:30PM. My boss shared some Valentine’s chocolate with me – yum. Work was fine, but it can sometimes be frustrating looking for article references on topics with so little prior research on the topic (comorbidity of depression and chronic conditions in Asian Americans). After I got out of work, I made my way back to the Mawr. When I got to Suburban station, I made the tragic mistake of taking the 6:07 express to Paoli instead of the 6:03 express to Bryn Mawr (which was running 4 minutes late). Two other Mawrters who are taking Penn classes also made this mistake, and we trekked back to Bryn Mawr on the next train from Paoli toward Center City.

In the midst of this chaos, I actually got to know an exchange student, Yuri, from Japan’s women’s college Tsuda College. Tsuda has a strong partnership with Bryn Mawr because their college’s founder was the first Japanese woman to attend Bryn Mawr. We talked about cultural differences between the USA and Japan and how she was liking Bryn Mawr so far. I also learned from her that girlfriends give their boyfriends chocolate on Valentine’s Day in Japan, and boyfriends reciprocate the chocolate on White Day later in the Spring. Our conversation continued over dinner and special red velvet cupcake dessert together in New Dorm Dining Hall.

As I write this post, my Valentine’s Day is still not over. I have a dance rehearsal at 10PM for my friend Joy’s senior thesis dance piece. It’s tech week, and the performances are this Saturday and Sunday at 6pm in the Hepburn Teaching Theater. We originally did not have rehearsal tonight, but as all artists know, crazy unexpected things come up during tech week. I had planned on going to a Tom Petty Tribute Band concert at Johnny Brenda’s in Philly, but duty calls as a dancer. And now, it is actually time for me to go to rehearsal…

So… Happy Valentine’s Day to all my readers! Hope it was still a great day for you all 🙂

And back to the women’s college stereotype on dating. Feelings of wanting someone are completely validated. It is quite true that the “strong, independent woman” mantra is drilled into us from day one, so we do not really talk about companionship in the face of feminism. As I always say, I think every Mawrter is a good catch.

And now, a very special V-Day playlist curated by yours truly:

And the first 5 songs off my latest WHRC radio show Music Therapy: