Eternal January has ended, and Forever February has entered the picture. This winter has been particularly brutal, and, at least according to the baseless claims of that godforsaken groundhog, spring is still a long way off. Yet, sandwiched in the middle of what may be the dreariest month of the year is one of my favorite commercialized holidays: Valentine’s Day.

Every year, I try to honor this celebration of love (and consumer spending) in some way. This time last year, I took myself on a solo trip to the cat cafe, which quickly took a somber turn when I realized I was spending the holiday alone, surrounded by dozens of indifferent felines. Never mind that, though.

It’s true that law school can turn even the most whimsical among us into cynics. To be a law student is to grapple with constant rejection: prospective employers will ghost you, your answer to a cold call will earn a lukewarm response from the professor, and your LinkedIn profile can feel less like a networking tool and more like an extended humiliation ritual. 

For Valentine’s Day this year, rather than surrounding myself with cats, I wanted to focus on the people and small comforts that have made even the lowest moments of 1L manageable. Don’t be fooled by the title, I actually really dislike Love, Actually. Yet I think there is some merit to that famous line, “Love actually is all around.” I haven’t watched the movie in years, so that may be a misquote, but you get the gist.  

Maybe we aren’t being showered in flowers and chocolates every day in the East Wing, but the spirit of Valentine’s Day shows up in our day-to-day interactions. Whether it’s knowing your friend’s daily Dunkin order by heart (medium iced coffee, one shot hazelnut, two cream), Dean Brathwaite reminding you not to panic, or that thrilling moment when everyone is active in the group chat and firing off inside jokes, lifesavers are all around if you know where to look.

You don’t need bouquets of roses or comically large teddy bears to survive law school. Sometimes, a friend sharing their notes, a well-timed joke in class, or a call to a non-law-school friend for a dose of normalcy is more than enough to keep you going. That being said, if anyone wants to get me a box of chocolates this Saturday, who am I to refuse?

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Sydney Byun is a first-year student at BC Law. Contact her at byunsy@bc.edu.