Under the watchful eye of a poster of "A Clockwork Orange" and an enormous cardboard sign supporting Barack Obama, Nick Greene '10 trolls the Internet on a rainy Providence day. He's looking for a Valentine's Day e-card for his boyfriend, Daniel Goldbard '09, who is studying abroad in Madrid.
"Where are the tacky, gay cards?" Greene says, scrolling through a list of cards on Yahoo.com and a Spanish Valentine's Day Web site.
Rejecting a slew of cards - one was "too heteronormative," another "just whack" - Greene finally settles on a pink and purple card festooned with moving hearts and accompanied by a poem he found on the Spanish Web site. Greene's virtual gift exemplifies the blend of technology and tradition that Brunonians have found to celebrate Valentine's Day from a distance.
"On Valentine's Day ... it's hard when they are not there," says Barbara Petersen '10, who has been dating her boyfriend Tyler, a junior at the University of Colorado, for more than two years.
For these couples, Valentine's Day serves as a potent reminder of the distance that separates them. Whether it's study abroad, different campuses or graduation, these couples won't let their love be confined to College Hill. But budgets and midterms may prevent Brown students from reaching significant others with anything more than a quick phone call or e-mail, a difficulty highlighted on Feb. 14.
"It's always hard being away, no matter what day it is," says Santiago Godard '11, who has been dating his girlfriend Emily, a Northeastern University student, for five years.
Godard, a native of Mexico, says though he is used to his long-distance relationship - his girlfriend is from Australia - it's still essential to "remember to communicate," on Valentine's Day, or any other.
Maintaining that long-distance relationship is about "honesty, trust and effort," Godard says.
And luckily enough for the tech-savvy college set, rapidly improving technology has made communication from Rhode Island to just about anywhere with an Internet connection increasingly possible. E-mail and Facebook allow for almost instant contact across campus or across the world. Skype - the popular and free online phone service - is also a favorite among lovesick students otherwise out of each other's reach.
Without technology, "I don't know what I would do," Greene says. Between cell phone calls from Spain, e-mail, Skype and Facebook, Greene says he is able to talk to his boyfriend "every couple of days."
Godard says he uses AOL Instant Messenger and Skype's video chat frequently to keep in touch with his girlfriend, a technique he learned when they were separated by thousands of miles before each came to college in New England. Since getting to the U.S., both Godard and his girlfriend purchased service plans from AT&T.
Petersen also says she relies on phone conversations, text messages and e-mails to maintain daily communication with her boyfriend.
"We talk a lot on the phone, and we have gotten better about having real conversations," Petersen says. Though visits are rare - Petersen's boyfriend flew to Providence twice last year and the two share time in their hometown of Littleton, Colo., every school break - Petersen says their time apart has helped her "learn to trust him more." She has also learned not to rely too much on the Internet for instant communication.
"We try to avoid using Facebook," Petersen says, adding that using the Internet for regular contact "can be frustrating."
Still, Petersen says she is more than happy to use the internet when shopping for gifts. A Valentine's Day bouquet her boyfriend ordered online sits on her desk - and a card and a basket of cookies and brownies are on their way to Colorado, ordered from Harry and David, a specialty food company.
Petersen is by no means alone in ordering online gifts for her long-distance valentine. Any students trying to get their mail must weave through stacks of boxes from overseas and 1800Flowers.com in the Faunce House mailroom. One particularly large box covered with hearts has "perishable" written in bold red letters across its front. Lines of as many as 25 people snake around the mailroom to pick up packages between classes.
"Valentine's is like our Christmas," says Fred Yattaw, manager of Brown's mail services. Package volume from mail couriers like UPS and FedEx increases to three or four times its usual volume on Valentine's Day, Yattaw says.
Even on a national scale, the days surrounding Valentine's are "some of the busiest all year" for mail couriers, according to Jennifer Caccavo, a FedEx spokeswoman.
Caccavo says delivery volume for items like "plants, boxes of chocolates, chocolate-dipped strawberries, gift baskets and teddy bears" often increases more than 15 percent during the week preceding Valentine's Day, with a 20-percent jump in volume on Feb. 14. Flower deliveries alone are 25 times higher than on an average day.
Despite the popularity of lavish gifts, students interviewed by The Herald mostly have different takes on the holiday.
Godard has this advice, after five years of practice:
"Be spontaneous. Make sure it's not mundane. And always communicate."
