Students pull out stops for Valentine's Day

The Beatles may have been right when they warned you "can't buy me love," but some students certainly are going to try today, the most romantic day of the year. Some will use the traditional Valentine's Day route. "I bought [my girlfriend] chocolates, flowers and a present, and I'll take her out to a nice quiet restaurant," Engineering sophomore Max Weise said. Some will be more elaborate. "I'm going to take [my girlfriend] to a fancy restaurant for a night in town, maybe even a carriage ride," Wharton senior Michael Silvera said. But for some, Valentine's Day is not complete without . . . well . . . as one female student put it "a nice quiet dinner, and hot, steamy sex afterwards." "I'm going to buy 20 condoms for this weekend when I go to see my girlfriend," said another student who, obviously, did not want to be identified. There are those, however, still in search of love. "I'll send like a dozen roses to eight or 10 girls . . and then I'll see what happens," said a Wharton sophomore. And then there are others for whom love is only a secondary concern on Valentine's Day. "I'll have to stay in because I have a midterm on Friday," said Wharton freshman Miriam Olivera. But for many, Valentine's Day still means buying that someone special that special something. And that means laying out bucks for the four C's -- candy, chocolate, cards and, of course, condoms. "The past week has been really ridiculous . . hectic," said Erica Marks, a cashier at Houston Hall's Cards & Gifts. "I would say [we have] about three to four times the usual business." Marks said the biggest sellers are humorous cards by the Shoebox company, with small boxes of candy to go with them. "[Chocolate and card] sales are more than we expected," said the manager of CVS at 39th and Walnut streets. "[Condom sales] are the highest they've ever been." According to Frank Morales, night assistant manager of the WaWa at 36th and Chestnut streets, the store has sold almost all of its cards -- more than 100 -- and flower sales have also been good. "People come and get two or three packs of condoms at a time," added Morales. "We had to refill twice this week." And many campus groups are also looking to capitalize on the Valentine's Day spending spree. The Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and the Society of Black Engineers is raising funds by delivering balloons and candy. Delta Sigma Theta sold about 30 balloon and candy packages, while the SBE sold about 50 balloon-grams. "[We did] really, really well. We reached capacity," said College sophomore Kiera Reilly. She said PSA sold 430 care packages and had to turn down 20 other orders. Even the The Daily Pennsylvanian cashed in on Valentine's Day. It sold more than 440 ads, which appear on four pages in today's paper. "It's the most we've sold in a year since I can remember," DP Business Manager Michael Gaviser said yesterday.

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