By Erica Li ’29
Today is Valentine’s! I started the day by walking over to Scripps College for brunch. Malott brunches are the best — even before arriving in Claremont, I’d heard about their açaí bowls and chicken waffles. Personally, I love their scrambled eggs and fresh fruit. Today, I got Greek Yogurt with fresh berries, bananas, and granola, as well as a plate of hot foods. When I was looking for honey for my yogurt, a dining hall worker wished me a happy Valentine’s Day and gave me a rose that had been tucked into their pocket, which was really sweet. Now, it’s in my room in my blue Pomona mug.
After that, I went with my friends to watch a movie at the Montclair AMC. We took the local bus, Foothill Transit — all Pomona students get a free pass for it. The walk to the bus station was really nice, and it was surprisingly easy to get to the shopping mall. Aria, Vanessa, MaKiyah, Melody, Julia and I watched Wuthering Heights together… and we were honestly unimpressed ahaha. But at least we got to collectively complain about it afterward, which was fun.
On our bus back, we bumped into Miranda and Zara. They had just been at Target to buy snacks for a Galentine’s picnic. Though I initially planned going to a calculus mentor session after getting back on campus, I decided that could wait — after all, today was the day of chocolates (and maybe love, but definitely chocolates).
They let me join their picnic. We went to the quad. I brought grapes and a warm blanket. My friend Eli also ended up joining us later, and we spent the evening eating chocolate covered strawberries and talking until the sun started setting.
After it got cold and dark, it was time to head to dinner. Frary had a special Valentine’s menu, so I met up with friends there. Their ribeye was very yummy, but I was too busy eating it to take photos (sorry!).
At night, after a fun day, I thought I ought to actually do student things (i.e., studying). But “studying” turned into three hours on the couch of Mudd-Blaisdell — people-watching to see who was dating whom, catching up with friends, and spilling the tea (mostly making others spill the tea).
Honestly, going into college, I’ve really looked forward to conversations. I was excited to talk with my friends about everything random, silly things like campus crushes to more important things, like what people are truly passionate about. I am so lucky to have found that here at Pomona.
Today was another day of very little work done, but my day was filled with so much joy, conversations, and laughter. And I’m so grateful for it.
