While couples embrace each other on Valentine’s Day, roommates Danielle Allen, a freshman education major, and Hannah Sieg, a freshman public relations major, said they plan on embracing the single life together.

“I have a hot date with (Hannah),” Allen said.

The duo shared their thoughts of Valentine’s Day, a day typically spent with a significant other or “valentine,” and talked about spending it as single.

The day gets its name from a famous saint, Saint Valentine, and according to the BBC people use the day to express their love for another.

However, not everyone gets flowers and chocolates on Valentine’s Day.

Allen said she “reminisces in her loneliness” in Valentine’s Days passed, while Sieg said she usually stays in and spends time with her family on Valentine’s Day. 

But together, they said they may consider reservation dining at Stevenson Dining Hall, even though they said that means they would have to tolerate the abundance of couples that will probably be there as well, something Allen said those couples could stand to control better.

She said she finds it bothersome when people publicly display their affection for one another.

“There’s a time and a place,” she said, “and it’s not now or here.”

When asked if there are any benefits to being single while her friends are busy being swept off their feet, Allen said “absolutely not.”

“Well, I guess it’s cheaper,” she said. 

Sieg agreed that it is convenient that single people do not have to spend the money that people in a relationship are usually obligated to, but that there are no other benefits. 

Freshman graphic design major Matthew Brauer shared a similar sentiment with Allen and Sieg: distaste for people who could not keep their hands and mouths off each other in public.

He said his freshman year in high school, there was a couple who would constantly be all over each other in the school hallways.

When Valentine’s Day came around, Brauer said he saw the two going about their usual public displays of affection—this time wearing t-shirts with each other’s face on them. 

“It was some real gross stuff, … and I don’t (want to) sound rude, (because) if you’re in a relationship and you’re happy then that’s great for you, but PDA is obnoxious, and both of these people … had each other’s faces printed on each other’s T-shirts.”

Brauer also said he remembers when that couple broke up and mentioned that it made him very happy because he would not have to see them display their love for one another.

Another thing Brauer agreed with Allen on was that saving money is a convenience that comes with being single on Valentine’s Day. 

“I already don’t have any (money), so it’s really nice not having to spend more,” he said. 

Austen Brown can be reached at 581-2812 or albrown6@eiu.edu.