Self-love will literally solve all your problems. Honest. It is a journey, not a destination. Sometimes the roads are bumpier than others and that’s okay. What you need to remember is that self-love starts with just your thoughts. You live inside your head, and you are what you think, so might as well train your mind to be kind to you. Let the self-loving thoughts swarm, and self-esteem and self-confidence will follow! If I asked you to name all the things that you love, how long would it take for you to name yourself?

You can start by reminding yourself (and your friends!) with this:

1- Exercise is a celebration of what your body can do, not a punishment for what you ate

2-For every flaw you see in yourself, name on thing you actually like about yourself

3- Your vacation doesn’t have to end with a “detox”. There’s no such thing as “getting back on track”

4- You are allowed to skip the workout because you’re tired

5- You are also allowed to nourish your body with a wide variety of food groups, free of restriction, and without feeling guilty

6- Don’t think the fashion industry doesn’t belong to you just because you keep seeing images of bodies that don’t look like yours on Instagram and TV

7- This poem by Erin Hanson

NOT

You are not your age,
Nor the size of clothes you wear,
You are not a weight,
Or the colour of your hair.
You are not your name,
Or the dimples in your cheeks,
You are all the books you read,
And all the words you speak,
You are your croaky morning voice,
And the smiles you try to hide,
You’re the sweetness in your laughter,
And every tear you’ve cried,
You’re the songs you sing so loudly,
When you know you’re all alone,
You’re the places that you’ve been to,
And the one that you call home,
You’re the things that you believe in,
And the people that you love,
You’re the photos in your bedroom,
And the future you dream of,
You’re made of so much beauty,
But it seems that you forgot,
When you decided that you were defined,
By all the things you’re not.

8- Let go of socially constructed ideas of beauty

9- Let go of other people’s expectations

10- You do you

They say if you’re still up at 4 AM, you’re either lonely or in love. Nope! I’m just an architecture student with a tight deadline trying to survive (and make it in life!) despite being overloaded and sleep deprived all the time. Architecture students don’t have time for loneliness or love, and to be completely honest, I’m personally starting to think I bit off more than I can chew. Thankfully, I’m not alone in this. Architecture students are all in this together. Misery does love company.

So to make myself feel better, I drafted 8 things architecture students have in common:

1- Their Instagram page is filled with buildings and landscapes

2- They spend way too many years in university

3- They live on coffee and cigarettes

4- They consider 3 AM an early night

And say things like “It’s midnight, I have plenty of time to finish”.

5- Yet, they secretly love the rush of pulling an all-nighter

Architecture students claim being more sleep deprived than others, so whenever someone complains about lack of sleep, they swoop in with their timetable thinking it’s a competition.

6- They are still single

Because they don’t have time for real life…

7- They get annoyed when people in less intense majors complain about their workload

8- More importantly, they are looking for exposure

If you’re an architecture student or design, landscape or urban planning enthusiast looking for exposure, how about you get published on Banque Libano-Française architecture blog?

Many renowned national and international experts such as Georges Arbid, Director of Arab Center for Architecture in Beirut, and Daniel Berlin from Snøhetta, have already contributed to it. Oh and FYI, in 2018 only, the Blog was visited 32k times, reached 940k people on Facebook and 25k people on Instagram!

You can share articles, photos, architectural plans… or even your end-of-year project (which will be subject to review by the Bank blog team of course). You probably spent countless all-nighters coming up with the right concept, and drafting and tuning the project to the last detail. You deserve to show it to the world!

Lebanese moms have the characteristics of what the French call a “maman poule”: extremely overprotective. They’re anxious over nothing and worry about everything. Go figure.  Lebanese moms manage to take the “maman poule” thing to a whole new level. So if you were raised by a Lebanese mom, whether in Lebanon or abroad, you’ll probably relate to most of this list.

So here are 10 things Lebanese moms have in common:

1- They ask too many questions

2- They’re a bit overdramatic

3- Especially when you don’t answer the phone

4- They have their own body language

They usually use this gesture when you say something inapropriate in front of someone. Translation: “halla2 bfarjik”.

5- They start rhyming when they don’t like what you said

Credits to @Lebanesememes for this one 🙂

6- “Khod panadol” is their answer to everything

You have a cold? Fever? Stomach ache? Tuberculosis? Eh Khod panadol!

7- They turn into maniacs when they have a “3azimé”

And cook meals that last 3 days because they always overdo it.

8- They don’t understand memes

Whenever I show my mom a funny meme/video she asks “who is that?” I don’t know mom! Just laugh and give me my phone back.

9- They type like this

*Mom typing*

*Mom typing*

*Mom typing*

*Mom typing*

*Mom typing*

*3 min later*

“Ok”

10- “Khod jacket”

Every. Single. Day.

If I missed out on some other funny thing Lebanese moms have in common, feel free to share it in the comment section below. The more the merrier! Make the world laugh 🙂

So, who else HATES “Back to School” commercials? When I was still in school, I used to get anxiety whenever the “Back to School” commercials of schoolbags, copybooks and pens started being displayed as of end of August. But the thing is, I’m in university now and I STILL get anxious whenever I see a back to school sign. And I swear each year it feels like they’re being posted sooner than the year before. Is it just me?

Back to school anxiety is real. So I made a list of happy things to think of in order to tackle and overcome this feeling:

1- You’ll reunite with old friends

You probably hung out with your closest friends during summer but catching up with the rest of your class will feel nice.

2- It’s the beginning of fall

Goodbye August heat! Hello gentle September breeze, autumn warm colors and pumpkin spice lattes!

3- New year, new goals

If you’re a kid at heart you know September is the beginning of the year –not Jan. And you know… new year, new goals, new ambitions.

4- You can still go to the beach

As long as the sun’s shining you can still go to the beach on the weekends. If you’re a true sea lover you know beach season starts in March and ends in October.

5- The positive side of routine

End of summer means the end of sleepless nights, parties, overeating and overdrinking. You’re back to your healthy routine and god knows you need it. Helloooo highly-needed detox!

6- You could meet the love of your life this year!

They say everyone has a soulmate… I think mine got hit by a bus or something so I guess that’s not gonna happen.

7- Maybe you’ll even get good grades this year!

Just kidding, you know that’s not gonna happen either right? Old habits die hard 😉

8- Or at least get better at Math for a change

Nah I know you’ve probably given up on math a long time ago but that’s okay 🙂 You’re still gonna make it in life just like everyone will!

And a Happy September to you!