Yes and no. As a Muslim, American and a woman, I found myself walking a tightrope at all times. It was hard for people to accept me as a package of all three identities. They either saw me as a Muslim which meant I couldn't just roam around by myself, befriending strangers in the street, which I did anyhow, but then I was immediately pegged as a foreigner, and the fact that I wasn't fluent in spoken Arabic made it much harder to be fully accepted. I realized that being a Muslim wasn't enough, particulary in the Arab world, where language takes precedence over religion in terms of fitting in. And I found it a double standard in many ways, being a Muslim from South Asia, having grown up in the States, and yet, being treated as an outsider, someone who didn't quite belong, but everytime I walked into a mosque, or heard the call to prayer or saw a sign in Arabic, I did feel so grounded there. It was a sense of belonging, cultural more than a sense of home or roots, and it was hard to explain to people that I wasn't just a stranger. I was constantly having to negotiate the feeling of being an outsider and insider at the same time. And as soon as I started wearing the headscarf, I blended in with the locals, which meant I couldn't get away with allowances for tourist mistakes, such as not knowing the subway rules in Cairo. It landed me in some trouble, this case of mistaken identity and ever since then, I was torn between my desire to fit in and not stand out and just being this naive wide eyed traveler discovering these places for the first time. A very odd situation to be in, this sense of belonging and not quite belonging.