10. Dealing with people who try to take photos with you.
We were touring Topkapi Palace, a place dripping luxury that I would sell my soul to live in, when a family came up to us and gestured toward me with the camera. Thinking that they wanted us to take a photo of them, we paused and said sure. It was only after the woman in the family stood next to me and smiled while her partner pointed the camera our way that I realized what was going on, and it would have taken me much longer if I hadn’t seen people talk about this during my Google search. I completely understand that I might be a novelty to some people, but it’s hard not to feel like a spectacle when something like that happens. As someone who deals with catcalls on the reg in D.C., when I go elsewhere I just want to be completely invisible, the way my boyfriend gets to be. No one gawks at him while he’s just walking around, living his life, so that experience emphasized a difference between us that I don’t usually think about.