This past semester, I have been apart of an amazing adventure, studying abroad in Florence, Italy. It has undoubtedly been a trip of a lifetime (and lucky for me, I still have a few months left.) On the weekends, I have been traveling throughout Europe. I snorkeled in the south of France, had a stein at Oktoberfest in Germany, climbed to the top of the acropolis in Greece, and this past weakened I have been exploring Barcelona, Spain. This past weekend has been truly amazing. I have explored the ancient city of Catalonia, more commonly known as Barcelona, touring cathedrals, and hearing the legends of the city. It has been a weekend I will never forget.

Last evening, a few of my friends and I decided to go out in Barcelona. We went to dinner and gazed out into the ocean, as the waiter served us free mojitos. Most of the time, I feel as if my life is a surreal dream that I never want to wake up from. We then went to an Ice Bar in Barcelona, which is quite literally a bar made of ice, and then proceeded to a club. When I was in the club, I was happy, dancing along with friends, enjoying my time abroad. It was after I was leaving the club to head home, that I ran into an issue. As I was exiting, a man turned to me, looked me up and down, smirked, and said "I would like to fuck you."

I was appalled. I cursed him out and proceeded to walk quickly to a cab, looking over my shoulder as I walked, watching him linger behind me. This is not the first time that I have had men come up and say derogatory things to me, Yet, this blatant disregard of personhood. took things to a new level. This type of talk is one thing: unacceptable. I began to wonder, how, why, someone could just say something like this, and after dwelling on the incident, I came to a simple, yet devastatingly sad conclusion: we currently live in a world that perpetuates this kind of talk.

America is not the only country watching this political debacle unfold. The world is watching. The world is gripping onto the words of each presidential candidate. And when a candidate exclaims that he "grabs women by the pussy" he is perpetuating lewd, and misogynistic, behavior. Behavior that I believe, needs to end. I am not, by any means claiming that Mr. Trump is the sole reason behind why this man verbally assaulted me. But I am saying that he is part of the problem. When a figure head of that scale laughs about sexually assaulting women, he is continuing the cycle of abuse. He is making it acceptable for this type of talk to continue. Mr. Trump is not the only one who has ever said anything vile, and he is not the only person to laugh about sexual assault. But he is currently one of the most talked about people in the world. He is running for the highest political office in the United States of America, and what he says matters. He has power in his hands, right now, right this very second, to influence the lives of billions, all by what he says. All words carry weight, and Mr. Trumps carry even more.

This article is not directed at Mr. Trump, or men, as if men are the only ones who say these types of things. This is not a plea to men, but rather a plea to mankind. Every single day, we wake up with a choice. A choice to do good, to be good, and to say things with kindness and respect. We have the option to be fair and just, to tread on this earth lightly, and to leave it better than we entered. I do not think that this man that asked to fuck me is a bad person. But his words had power: the power to make me feel unsafe. To turn my shoulder and cross my arms and try to cover myself up. He could have said hello, and I would have said hi back. The exchange could have been completely different. His words did not have to taint my night, to change my paradigm of the entire evening yet, they did.

There are people out there that say that this type of talk will always continue, and that there's nothing we can do about it. I say that's bullshit. It all starts with one person. One person who says, "enough is enough." One person who vows to make a change, to call someone out when they say something inappropriate, to stop this behavior. It just takes one person. And I believe that person could be you.