Nosebleeds

My nose is bleeding as I write this, so my apologies if this is not my best work. I have been struggling with random nosebleeds lately for some reason, probably the heat. I really like the weather here. The first few days it was far too hot for me, but now it is cooling down and it is incredible.

Today in class we spoke a lot about sex and gender roles in society. We also discussed how marketing has victimized women and held up an unattainable beauty standard. It turns out that gender is not as black and white as people would like to think. There are many in-betweens that people don't like to acknowledge. The media often objectifies women and uses their sexuality as often as possible to sell any product. Also, the use of overly thin models has causes many psychological problems in young girls because they then people that is what it means to be beautiful. It is sad that our society has come to this.

However, I do not have a problem with displaying beautiful women in advertisements. That is smart marketing. People are attracted to beauty. Unattractive things do not catch a persons eye. The problem is that the media is altering our perception of beauty to make it something that isn't healthy or achievable. Personally, I do not think that advertisements have really had a lasting effect on my ideals of beautiful women.

I am so thankful for the incredible friends I've made here. I am completely whole-heartedly going to miss them very much when I leave. There are some girls here that I know have made an impression with me that will last for a lifetime, and I certainly will not forget any of them. I've only known them for about a week and already they have become my best friends. I adore them. This is a truly life-changing experience for me. I am completely recreating how I view myself and how I view other people, and I like that. I am very thankful for this opportunity.