echo Written By: Amal Hamizah
Photos by: Sunway International Student Ambassador (SISA)
Valentine’s Day is a special day to commemorate the bond between lovers, celebrated on the 14th of February. You can celebrate Valentine’s in countless ways, such as by going on a picnic date, watching a movie, or by going to a Valentine’s event where everyone, even the singles can have fun. Luckily, Sunway International Student Ambassador (SISA) hosted that event the night before Valentine’s Day in Sunway University’s Art Gallery.
SISA did an amazing job in decorating the Art Gallery. Their theme of red, white and pink served to liven up the romantic atmosphere, making everyone feel like they’re in love in that night. They also prepared a photobooth wall where everyone who attended the event could take photos together to be kept for memories.
Before going inside the Art Gallery, the girls were given a red paper heart each. The purpose was for them to play a game wherein the guys were told to walk around during the event and try to charm the girls into gifting them their paper hearts. The girls were later given advice by the emcees to not give their hearts away easily, and only to give the paper heart to the guys that managed to win their heart. This caused the guys to compete against each other in order to see who’s the real man of the night that could win most of the girl’s hearts!
The event officially started at 6.40 PM. The first performance was by AJ, who sang and played acoustic guitar. Her amazing covers of ‘Riptide’ and ‘Young, Dumb and Broke’ was perfect for opening of the event, making everyone anticipate more of the event.
After the first performance, the cheerful and funny emcees, Taha and Aisha introduced themselves. They welcomed the audiences and briefed the attendees on what exactly SISA is.
The emcees then proceeded to introduce us to the second performance of the night by Hiba and Bhanu. Hiba and Bhanu performed ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ and all of the audience were mesmerized by them.
It was then time for a break and the first round of food. Sunway Student Volunteers (SSV) members helped out by holding food trays and serving everyone delicious snacks. They also prepared drinks in case the audiences were thirsty during the event. During this time, everyone mingled around to get to know each other.
After the break, it was finally time for the first game of the night. The game was called ‘Compatible’, and required eight couples to stand back to back. Aside from couples, there were also friends who joined in the fun. The ‘couples’ were given a “him” and “her” sign, and the emcees asked questions to the couples such as “whose room is the messiest” and “who has better fashion sense”. If both ‘couple’ lifted the same sign for the same question, the ‘couple’ would get a point. The ‘couple’ with most points would be the winner. It was a game to test whether the ‘couple’ has the same impression on each other, and yes, it was intense. Even so, the couples and friends had fun knowing their impressions of each other!
Another round of break and food was held after the game. An amazing singing performance was held by Hiba, who sang a cover of Stay With Me by Sam Smith.
During the next break, the music was turned up and everyone began to sang along to the songs. Some of the songs that were played includes Justin Bieber’s and Taylor Swift’s old songs, so of course the audiences basked in the nostalgia and sang out loud in unison.
Nada brought a cultural shift in the list of performances as she performed an Indian song for the audience. Nada has a really lovely voice that can melt people’s hearts!
The final performance was by Pinky, in which the emcees encouraged the couples to dance to the song. How romantic!
The event ended with a dancing session, in which DJ Anas played various songs and all the audiences swayed on the dance floor with either their friends or their loved ones. Everyone looked like they enjoyed themselves, and some of them even showed off their skilled dancing moves on the floor, making everyone even more hyped up!
One of the attendees of the event described the event as “fun”. She went to the event not necessarily to be with her significant other or to find partner, but only to have an enjoyable night, which she did experience. She also said she would like to attend this event again in the future.
An interview was conducted with the director of the event, Rabieh Ansari. She revealed that the inspiration for this event is to continue tradition of SISA, which is to conduct a themed event, in this case a Valentine themed event. Some of the difficulties encountered during the process of this event is managing the large number of people that came to the event. She also stated how delegating task for SISA members were challenging, and as the event was a large one, they also had to put up a large decorations. However, she said the efforts by everyone was manageable, and she was happy the outcome of the event. She mentioned that some of the profits they earned will be donated to charity. She hoped to improve the event next time by making the process slightly smoother.
The event was overall a success, and most importantly everyone who attended had a fun valentine night covered this year. We’re definitely looking forward to more themed events held by SISA in the future!
