A childhood belief about periods

I have to:

When I was in my first year of Sex Ed, (i was probably about 10, my school started telling us these things early) the teacher showed us a tampon. She told us that it was like a pad rolled up into a tube, and that if we used them there woulf be directions in the box, so she didnt need to explain ow. This left me with some wrong assumptions. I thought that tampons were just what she'd said, rolled up pads, and that women would use them at work, or in the public toilets, because they were easier to carry and more inconspicuous to take out of your purse.

After alll my misunderstandings had be cleared up, i felt that i knew eveything about getting periods. When mine came when I was 12, i wasn't too alarmed, because i knew that it would come sooner or later. A few months later, i was at the seaside with my best friend. WE knew everything about eachother, and naturally i told her that the reason i had a bad stomach ache was that i had my period. When we were at the beach, she pulled my aside and said "WAit, i forgot, you cant go in the water, or you'll attract sharks!" HEr parents (very religious and kind of old fasioned) had told her that using tampons made you lose your virginity, and she had read someplace that blood in the water makes sharks come.