Valentine's Day

Usually, at TABLEtalk, students are used to me insisting that they mix nationalities and don't sit in groups with their fellow countrymen (or women). But last night we went against that unwritten rule and had students gather in their ethnic groupings; at least for the first activity which had us thinking about our ideal husband or wife.

Each student was given a list of 16 possible characteristics or issues affecting their choice of spouse. Individually they had to choose 8 of the 16 that were most important to them personally. Then, as a group, they were asked to reduce their list to FIVE things and to number those five in order of importance. 

It was pointed out to me that for some students the issue of marrying someone of the same religion was not so much a matter of choice but of expectation.

After mixing up nationalities each group then entered into a lot of lively discussion about relationships, prompted by such questions as ...
* Do you believe in love at first sight?
* Is it ok for a woman to propose to a man?
* What are your thoughts about internet dating?
* Do you think that getting married means giving up your freedom?
This last question resulted in a LOT of discussion about the meaning of the word freedom.

We continued our theme of Valentine's at the World Cafe today and many students engaged with our Love is ... graffitti board. 

We even had heart-shaped shortbread :-)

Hmmmm ... interesting!!!

Not entirely sure I understand this one -
an engineering student I believe :-)

Suzie's fiance :-)

I didn't pay anyone  ...  honest!!