Hallmark research reports that over 192 million Valentine’s Day cards are exchanged annually, excluding children’s classroom valentines.  Yet, many people seem to be searching for a type of valentine that cannot be found on gift store shelves.  For those of you who are still searching for a person to be your valentine, here is some advice from a couple of students from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Ladies — are you still looking for a guy who will be your sweetheart this February fourteenth?  If you are thinking about drowning your sorrows in a pint of Ben and Jerry’s, you are on the right track.  Well, you’re at least in the right store.  A junior in the College advises Penn women: “Take it from a guy.  The best place to meet men is the grocery store.  Think about it.  The guys there are health conscious, but they aren’t obsessed with themselves like guys at the gym.  Plus, guys at the grocery store can cook!  What more could a girl want?”  Apparently, women of the University of Pennsylvania should have more appreciation for Fresh Grocer: the store that can provide both dinner and a date.  Dinner and a movie is, after all, passé.   

The idea that women should try to meet men while they are food shopping seems quite revolutionary, a concept worthy of Penn’s Ivy League campus.  Google, however, sends women who are in search of “places to meet men” to Laundromats, sports bars, and hardware stores.  These are the places topping Rod Hewitt’s list of Nine Great Places to Meet Men.  Yet, dirty laundry is certainly not an aphrodisiac.  Sports bars are never good places to chat.  How many women like to frequent hardware stores?  Interestingly, Hewitt is the owner of an internet dating site.  Even after trying to give women places to meet men, he recognizes the fact that his suggestions are impractical.  The grocery store, on the other hand, that is a place with real match making potential.

Men — the women of the University of Pennsylvania have some advice for those of you who are searching for a date.  A sophomore in the College reveals: “The best place for a guy to meet girls is the salon.  Seriously, when girls are getting their hair or nails done they are relaxed and in the mood to chat.  When a guy walks in for a haircut, girls love it.  They know that he cares about his appearance, and that’s hot.”  Those men who can deal with walking into a hair salon may end up with both a new hair-do and a new gal pal.  Be a man.  Pull yourself together, or wait for your stylist to do it for you.  Just make an appointment, and get rid of that barber shop cut. 

Nonbelievers beware.  Trusty electronic forums will once again prove to be of no use.  The “pickup specialist” (yes this is his official title) for Askmen.com suggests that some of the best places to meet women are in the street, at the movies, or out shopping.  I am not paid to be a “pickup specialist,” but I can assure you that you will probably have a low rate of success finding women in these places for several reasons.  A: People who speak to strangers on the street are usually homeless and asking for spare change.  B: Talking at the movies makes you one of those really annoying people everyone hates.  C: Shopping is very serious business, and it must not be taken lightly.

Whether you consider these Penn students to be well educated in matters of the heart or just perceptive people, they prove that the laws of attraction cannot simply be researched.  Some people hate Valentine’s Day because they want to share a romantic day, and they have no one.  Some dislike the day because they have someone they feel forced to romance.  Others hate February fourteenth because they feel it is a commercial holiday.  However, there are people who love everything about Valentine’s Day.  St. Valentine was not only said to be the patron of all lovers and the awakener of tender sentiments; he also acted to foreshadow the onset of brighter days.  You can choose to love or hate next Wednesday.  Celebrate by wearing shades of pink, or protest in all black.  Just make sure to remember that brighter, and hopefully warmer, days are on the horizon.