What money can't buy

The talk of the Harvard Professor Michael Sandel really made me think about today's society and how we live and spend our money.
We watched it last week in class because of the recommendation of my philosophy teacher. Firstly I thought that it would be boring and really hard to follow, like all the things he normally shows us. But this video surprised me a lot.
Mr. Sandel starts a debate about the topic what money can't buy nowadays, because according to him, today nearly everything can be bought if we have enough money, even moral, civic and educational activities.
The fact that some schools even pay their students to read a book and so make them study is really shoking. I can't imagine me earning money for reading a book, if it was like this I had a lot of money right now. But I think that this method will never achieve the goals that they  want, students should learn to love to read, they should have fun and be interested in what they read, and not only because they will get money for each book.
As simple as it is, there are just some things that will never can be bought. To have a passion for doing something you love, or just the feeling of loving someone or something are perfect examples for it.
In conclusion, I realized how we have shifted from a marked economy to a marked society and how necessary it is to change it.

Human Rights

Everybody has heard someday about Human Rights, but do we exactly know what they are?
Human Rights are the rights you simply have because you're human. They are based on the principle of respect for the individual because everybody deserves to be treated with dignity.
They are called Human Rights because they are universal, but as we can see and observe, not everybody follows them.

It's history was complicated and long lasting. After a long time fighting for the declaration and a lot of tragic experiences like the Second World War, they finally realized the need of some basic human rights that can regulate and avoid future human catastrophes,  and so they got legal in 1948 under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Actually,  the Declaration consists of 30 laws based on universality, interdependence and indivisibility, equality and non-discrimination, though only 80 percent of nations ratified four o five laws. It's obvious that the more developed and modern nations follow the most laws, like freedom from slavery, life, liberty and securety, legal recognition, asylum and freedom of expression.

Personally, like most of people I knew about the existence of the Human Rights, but I had no idea what they exactly were and how many. What shocked me the most is that I thought that these laws have to be necessary followed by each country and not only for those who want to.

I didn't knew about the existence of the right to play, which consists of the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and holidays with pay. The name of this right seems a little bit funny but it's absolutely necessary for our personal life.

Nip-tuck

https://audioboom.com/boos/2985878-nip-tuck-dialogue

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift is known for many things, but being a diva isn't one of them, at least not until now.
According to National Enquirer, the singer insured her legs, for $40 million. The National Enquirer is oft-unrealiable, so it could be that the story is a big fake, but Taylor Swift dind't denied it.
Apparently, the singer was unsure how much her legs would be appraised for and was shocked and even a little bit embarassed about the suposed value of her legs, so we supose that the story is true.

After thinking a little about it, it's not that surprising that she insured her body, and she sure isn't the first celebrity to do it. Jennifer Lopez's ass is valuated for $300 million, seriously.
It also has it's logical reason, if something happens to Taylor's legs, she wouln't be able to give her stage perfomances, so her $200 career would be in big trouble. However, I think that it's overstated to get so much money if something happens to your legs, even to Taylor's.

60 seconds

I just found this article on a news website and it surprised and shocked me a lot. It's about a list, written by the autors of List25, of 20 things that are happening every minute around the world:

So right at this moment, the next 60 seconds...

- There will be five earthquakes.

- There will be 360 lightnings on the Earth.

- 250 children will be born.

- 113 of them will be born in underdeveloped countries.

- 15 of them will have birth problems or disabilities.

- We will use 55.000 barrels of oil.

- The Sun will throw 60 million tones of material in the space.

- 105.360 cubic meters of water will fall into the Iguazú Falls.

- 960 million tons of water are going to be evaporated from the Earth surface.

- A bird will move i'ts wings about 4 thousand times.

- 6 million chemical reactions will be produced in every cell in our body.

- You will move your eyelashes 12 times.

- Bill Gates is going to earn 15 thousand dollars.

- Nike is going to earn 36 thousand dollars.

- Nike workers will earn a tenth of a penny.

- They will cut 2.040 trees in the rainforest.

- 1800 stars will explode.

- 107 people will die.

- People all around the world will eat 4.500 McDonald's burgers.

- But, 18 of the 170 deaths, will die of starvation.

Personally, this list surprised me a lot. I only knew some of the facts like the birth of children, especially in the third world, the number of deaths every minute and that we move our eyelashes 12 times in 60 seconds. 

However, what really shocked me is that Bill Gates and Nike are earning such an amount of money in this short time, comparing it to the workers of Nike. In addition, the fact that while people are eating 4500 burgers, 18 people die because of starvation is more than only a sign for us to act and avoid it. Finally, It's also remarkable that propably we won't have any trees in the future if they continue like this.

A soulmate

I'm realistic enough to not wait my whole life for Prince Charming coming out of the blue, I know that to find the perfect one I have to go out and look for him, because he sure won't be stuck in a tree or something. So, I don't expect to find my soulmate one day, but definately a  lifepartner, therefore I should start to describe my perfect lifepartner.
The ONE should be understanding, caring, loving, loyal, have a similar lifestyle, likes and beliefs to mine, but not too similar because I would get bored. So, I need a guy who will bring me the right balance in my life.
Besides, my perfect lifepartner should respect and accept my flaws and imperfections, just love like I am, so I won't have to change in front of him because I feel unconfortable.
In addition, he also should be attractive, at least to me, I just want to be sure to feel happy seeing his face every morning for the rest of my life.
In conclusion, I know that I am very picky but I hope to find him anyway, he must exist somewhere, but who knows? Maybe he is waiting for me in Australia!

Skype with Noa

The Skype session with Noa was really interesting, especially for me. It presented a great opportunity for the whole class to learn more about taking a year abroad because she explained a little bit about her tasks, her daily rutine, her impressions and her experiences as an au-pair living so far away from home.

She told us that she had payed for an agency espezialized in au-pairs who wanted to go to Australia. The agency also found a family for which she could take care about their children and they fixed all the complicated paper stuff too, so she didn't had to worry about anything.

In the Skype session, I asked Noa what kind of papers she needed, and fortunately I'm lucky of having a German nationality to get the Australian Visa, because as it seems the Spanish people can't get the Working Holiday Visa. Besides this, I'll also need some references, pictures of myself and of course, a passport. Finally, I wondered about the jet-lag, I imagine it to be really tough and I was right. Noa said that it was very difficult for her to get used to the difference of hours, she had a jet-lag during months!

A few months ago I also decided that I want to go a year abroad to Australia and I have already found an agency which will do the same for me, they will look for a family and the papers I'll need. Like her, I hope to have luck with my au-pair family and I hope to have a great time in Australia because this may be the most important experience I will ever have.

Australia

A few months ago I realized that I had no idea what to do with my life. My classmates and friends already we're planning at what college they will go, what to study and even looking for a flat, and there was me who hadn't absolutely no idea.
Since I was little it was already decided that I would go back to Germany after finishing school and go to the university to study something related with busisiness, but now I'm not that sure about it. I still want to study, but what? General business, business management, marketing? I really don't know, there are so many diferent possibilities and it's really complicated to get through them. Plus, there is also the question about the university, I have absolutely no idea in which city I want to study. To sum up, there are so many open questions in my life right now and I just don't feel ready to decide it at the moment.

Due to this, I decided to go a year abroad. During this year I hope to have time to decide what I want to do and I also hope that after this trip I will feel ready and responsible enough to live alone in a city  and of course, to improve my english skills. But instead of choosing a country near home, I decided to go to Australia, at the other end of the world. I don't really know why I've choosen Australia but I think it's because I want to take some time off, and this can't be far away enough from Castelló.

One step closer to Plus-Size

The last magazine of "Sports Illustrated" was a big sensation for all the readers and fans.
Firstly, the magazine became popular for their photo-sessions with the most famous and wanted super models, and obviously they all have one thing in common: their perfect tanned and trained bodies, and they show them, of course in bikinis.
These photo-sessions should motivate women to get fit and do sport, but this isn't the case in real life.
Due to this, the world tried to change the image of a model, introducing the plus-size models. They had a really hard beginning but they continue working on it, and the photo that apperead in this magazine presents a mile stone for them.
The plus-size model Ashley Graham made it in the Sports Illustrated. She represented her body for the campaign "Curves in Bikinis" and she feels safe and sexy in her skin.
In my opinion, this was a really big and risky step from the magazine for publishing Ashley in a bikini, but I think that it comes a little bit late. Plus-size models are conquering the Media for a long time now, and I was really shocked as I saw that they didn't made it in the Sports Ilustrated until now.
To sum up, I hope that this was only the beginning for the models to appear in these kind of magazines, and not only size 0 women.