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I didn’t expect to find….Myself! “I won’t deny it, I’m a straight ridah,” lyrics from Tupac’s classic album, All Eyez on Me,” screamed repeatedly throughout my head as it summed up my emotions. All eyes were literally on me from the time I stepped on the Istanbul metro train departing Ataturk Airport up until I reached my stop at Sultanahmet Square. Needless to say, it was the most uncomfortable forty-minute commute I have ever experienced. My only goal was to find my name sake, Hagia Sofia Museum and pick-up chocolate covered hazelnuts from the spice market. I didn’t know the sense of uneasiness would continue to pulsate through my body as I had embarked on my first mini-solo trip via layover. I thought of my dad’s advice which was not applicable for this trip. “Blend in Sophia and don’t look like a tourist, well at least a robbable one,” were his instructions. However, it was hard to blend in when I was the only Black person everywhere that I turned. I checked my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles watch to keep me on track as I only had five hours to explore the market, eat a fish sandwich at the Galata Bridge and snap a few selfies for “the gram.” After I walked passed the security guards patrolling one of the world’s oldest markets, the Grand Bazaar, I immediately became enamored with the beautiful architecture that was built in 1461. I went to various stalls to make my purchases, but was discouraged as I didn’t know how to barter the amount of Lira’s I would need for my transaction, in addition to the multiple groups of men making uncomfortable comments towards me. I sped from the market. I was lonely and even became scared after I notice one man following me. The irony is, although Ataturk was bombed just a few months earlier, I found myself desperate in wanting to go back to the airport where I deemed safe. Determined to at least grab a picture inside the Blue Mosque, I wrapped my hair in the scarf women are required to wear before entering and removed my boots. When I kneeled down on the Tulip floral pattern carpet, I felt peace, empowered and an important reminder that God is always with me anywhere in the world. After I said my prayers, I walked out of the mosque with a new perspective. I shifted my mindset that regardless of race, gender or nationality, I belong in any room that I enter, even if I had to act like it. And that is exactly what I did when I went back to the spice market. I pulled out my calculator for the souvenirs I wanted to purchase and when the merchants gave me prices that I knew were higher than necessary, I just threatened to take my business elsewhere. Istanbul wasn’t my favorite place, but that experience served as a catalyst in me finding myself. From traveling to other countries or even if it’s just a regular day for me in the South Bronx, I tap into who I became in Istanbul and remember who I am, even if all eyes are on me.