By Lerraine Neo (26A01A)

Student couples make no sense. One moment it’s aesthetic cafe posts (that clearly took time to edit) of waffles and ice cream and perfectly drizzled caramel syrup, paired with selfies and pictures of each other as About You by The 1975 plays in the background. Then suddenly it’s “oh sorry, I can’t pay you back for the $10 lunch from two weeks ago, I have no money in my bank account”, or “I didn’t have time to finish my tutorial, why is there so much work”, or my personal favourite, “I know I’m forty-five minutes late but it’s because I was talking to my girlfriend.”

You all know who you are. 

There are two clear issues with student relationships: cost and time. Most students don’t have much income, and definitely not much free time. The solution? Raffles Institution. We’re obligated to spend most of our time in school, so why not make the most of it? For somewhere between $1.42 and $14.20, here’s a list of 7 Valentines (or regular date) activities you can do right here on campus.

1. Board game “cafe” @ MRS (free) 

Board game cafes should be amazing. Air-conditioning, somewhere to go that isn’t each other’s houses (very helpful if one of you lives in Pasir Ris), and an abundance of board games that you can cycle through without getting bored. But wait—capitalism. 

If you’re looking for a similar experience without the exorbitant cost (and sadly, without the food and drinks), RI’s very own My Rest Space offers a wide variety of card and board games, along with air-conditioning and very comfortable chairs. 

MRS is open from 3.00 – 5.00 pm on all non-gap days and 1.00 – 3.00 pm on gap days, so you might have to work with some time constraints depending on your timetables. But other than that, it’s a great place to chat and have fun (for free!).

2. Origami bouquet ($1.40)

Flowers are a universal symbol of love. Which is kind of depressing, considering all flowers die. If you want your love to be eternal (and wallet-friendly), maybe give origami flowers a try. 

There are a myriad of origami flower tutorials online, ranging from “I could do this on three hours of sleep” to “I might just cut my hands off” in terms of difficulty. If you aren’t sure what to try, origami lilies have the best aesthetic-value-to-number-of-crash-outs ratio.  

Stick your finished flowers onto straws purchased from Chill@Y14, or bring your own disposable chopsticks from home. When you inevitably have to declutter your house and dispose of the flowers, you can toss them in the recycling bin instead of the trash—which, if you think really hard, just means your love is going to new places. 

3. Jar of stars ($4.40) 

JC life is pretty hectic. Between classes, homework, and other commitments, you might not really have time to sleep, let alone spend time talking with your partner. Instead of terrorizing your friends by pining about how much you miss them, why not spend some time collecting things to say to each other?

Choosing one colour each, take turns writing messages on each piece of paper before folding them into stars. You could write about a favourite memory, a word of encouragement, even something you want to do together in the future. 

If you have time, decorate the jar with stickers, markers, or leftover strips of paper. 

Now whenever you’re feeling down, tired, or just bored—you get to undo the last hour’s worth of effort, one star at a time! 

4. Clay modelling ($5.90)

Relationships are messy. Love is messy. Clay modelling is messier. 

There is no picture because our hands were coated in quickly-solidifying layers of clay, but trust me when I say this is an activity for those who aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. Before starting, please put down a layer of foolscap or plastic coating, or anything to protect your desk from the inevitable mess. 

This could take quite a while depending on your competency, expectations, and how quickly you give up on those expectations. If you’re confident in the structural integrity of your constructions, add a loop and a piece of twine to turn them into keychains. Otherwise, keep them on your desk as a study buddy, or yet another reason to unnecessarily bring up your partner. 

5. Cafe date ($6.90) 

Cafe dates seem to be a quintessential part of any relationship. In an attempt to understand why, I enlisted a friend to explain all the things a cafe has to offer:

There isn’t really anywhere to eat in school with air-conditioning. But there’s nothing stopping you from having a nice meal in the well-ventilated and fan-filled canteen, before heading to one of the many air-conditioned spaces around RI to chat and hang out.

After the unfortunate closure of Professor Brawn, RI may no longer have a dedicated cafe, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find cafe-esque food on campus. Chill@Y56 and Y14 offers a wide variety of baked goods, from muffins to brownies to cookies, and plenty of drinks to mix-and-match as you please. 

With a bit of creativity, you can experience the classic cafe pairing: strawberry matcha and waffles. 

Okay. Maybe cafe food looks a little more Instagram-worthy. And maybe the DIY strawberry matcha got mixed reviews. But for a measly $6.90 (or a little more, for ice cream waffles), can you really complain? 

6. Tote Bag deco ($12.90) 

A lot of people carry pictures of their partners around, be it in the back of their phone case or in their wallet. Which is fine, but it’s much more helpful (and cuter, in my opinion) to carry around a picture by  your partner, drawn in marker on an RI tote bag. 

Each person decorates one side of the bag, or you can both decorate both sides together. By the end, you’ll have joint custody of a personalised, heartfelt tote bag, fortified with the smell of acrylic ink and about an hour of one-on-one conversation. 

Warning: Don’t do this with a H3 art student. You will be very intimidated and stressed about what to draw. 

Love is blind, right? If you truly loved your partner, surely you would be more than happy to carry around their lopsided hearts or smiley faces or whatever else they can think of. If nothing else, it’s a chance to bring up your relationship whenever someone remarks on the interesting design on your bag. 

Conclusion

Let’s face it: None of these dates are glamorous. At best, you can say they’ve got wabi-sabi. But Valentine’s Day doesn’t even fall on a school day this year, and no one really wants to go on a date in school. 

But love—at its core—isn’t glamorous. It’s built from the simple things; grabbing a drink after a particularly confusing lecture, doing homework together until you get asked to leave, walking aimlessly while you talk and laugh and share about your day. 

These probably won’t become your go-to date activities. RI definitely won’t be the most significant part of your relationship. But if you ever have the time—during breaks, after classes, or while waiting for CCA to start—why not give them a try?

Special thanks to Lee Guat Ghee (26S06B) for her help with this article!