By traveling, I’ve learned that a huge part of the world doesn’t get to do the same things I’m doing. While traveling, many choose to experience the best parts of each city — often falling prey to tourist traps or fabrications marketed as “authentic experiences.” Upon reflection, I realized that it is impossible to step out of our role as tourist, traveller or foreigner. Because no matter who or how we view ourselves, we usually choose to indulge in a prior conception of a city. And this is what I think differentiates us from the people who are constantly engaging and acknowledging the entirety of a city — those who have lived there for long enough to realize that every place is beautiful, but tormented in a way that can never be apparent to someone looking from the outside in.