How STU international students celebrate Valentine’s Day and define love
- Brianna Lyttle
- Feb 23
- 3 min read
With Valentine’s Day having just come and gone, various student societies at St. Thomas University planned festivities for students.
For many international students, being away from their families and other loved ones during this time, Valentine’s Day, coupled with winter blues, can feel like an isolating time.
To bring students together, the St. Thomas University International Students Association (STUISA) hosted an International Love Party on Feb. 12 with refreshments, music, games and the return of the Letters to Home initiative.
Mishael Robinson, the president of STUISA, said that Carrie Monteith-Levesque, former international student coordinator, organized Letters to Home event every year, an initiative that invited students to mail hand-written letters to their home countries.
The significance of writing letters by hand rather than texting and calling stuck out to Robinson, motivating her to bring it back for the students in partnership with the International Office.
“International students are far from home and I feel like the first love you get is love from home, your parents and your family … we wanted to put something together that still makes [Valentine’s Day] special, especially since you’re not with your family,” said Princess Obot, vice-president of STUISA.
While Obot doesn’t have her own Valentine’s Day traditions, her parents always make a point to have dinner together.
Gursimran Kaur typically spends her Valentine’s Day with her family in Amritsar, India.
“Creating a family away from home is something that's really important and kind of hard to do. So by creating events and spaces like these, you bring people close together,” she said.
In her childhood, Kaur remembers bringing her mother flowers and chocolates. She has continued that tradition by mailing them to her. Along with maintaining a close connection with her family, Kaur prioritizes self-love, especially during a season that is typically centred around couples.
“I love myself, that comes first. My advice to everybody who is in a relationship is to always prioritize yourself before prioritizing [a relationship].”
Similar to Kaur’s sentiments, Robinson said, “I always believe that love starts with oneself. I feel like, if you cannot really love yourself, you cannot really love another person. I feel like love is acceptance … and that starts with you, accepting yourself and who you are.”
Sidnel Longuma, an international student from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, believes that the core of love is caring for another person, whether romantic or platonic.
“I think that above all else, it's just about having someone … who cares about you as a person and in all your forms, with all the good and the bad.”
In her home country, Longuma finds that Valentine’s Day isn’t celebrated the way it is in Canada.
“Back home, it’s not taken as seriously. People think it's just a fun thing to do, but here, it seems like everyone's really dedicated to it, wearing red and pink and having events surrounding Valentine's … it's our generation who are kind of making a big deal since we have social media and are able to see what people are doing around the world.”
Longuma enjoys spending time with her girl friends during Valentine’s Day, typically getting together for a “Galentine’s” get-together.
“I'm really grateful for the people around me, my friends. It's a very stressful time, but I love my friends and also love my [Black Student Association] team.”
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