Humber Global hosted a card-making event to help students unwind and connect before mid-term exams.
This free event held in the NX building from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday provided sweet snacks and refreshments along with various art supplies.
Haidaly Sayago, the international student services coordinator, said the event allowed international students to meet new people.
“This type of event also has the opportunity for them (the international students) to connect with someone [that is] from a different program [or] from a different country,” she said.
Any Humber student could have attended the event. However, international students were the only ones who received an email, Sayago said.
Many international students were excited to attend the event as they embraced the Canadian activities and traditions.
Shivani Patel, a first-year student in the business marketing program, said her home country never celebrated Valentine’s Day as a festive day.
“Everybody back home in Kenya used to think that it’s cringey. But being here, doing such activities, [it] is really nice, fun, and you get to meet so many new people,” she said.
Valentine’s is one of her favourite days to celebrate ever since she was a child, Patel said.
Other students enjoyed their time with friends while doing arts and crafts.
Kiranpreet Kaur, a first-year business marketing student from the United Arab Emirates, said it’s her first time spending Valentine’s Day with her friends.
“We made matching bracelets, then took some pictures and came [here] to make cards,” she said.
Valentine’s is a day that expresses love towards yourself, friends and family, not just towards a significant other, Kaur said.
While some students enjoy the day of love, others, like Sahara Mann, a first-year student in the paralegal education program, have a conflicting point of view.
“I feel like everybody has expectations for Valentine’s Day and when they aren’t met people get really sad about it,” she said.
There are high standards for Valentine’s Day, but there shouldn’t be because love is love, and people should be able to express it how they want to, Mann said.
Some students, such as Victoria Orlain, said Valentine’s Day should not be a one-day concept.
“I think it’s cute [and] I love seeing everyone being lovey-dovey, [but] I feel like people should celebrate this more often because having it one day a year is too simple for me,” she said.
Rather than going out, the final-year esthetician and spa management student plans to stay home and spend time with her dog, she said.