Years passed and during third grade things changed direction for me. Even though I was half Egyptian I always felt like an outsider. I was a minority in my culture because of the qualities I didn't meet. Students criticized and bullied me for something I did differently than they did. For example, I didn't wear a hijab or have straight black hair, so I was always asked questions like why I have a different skin tone or why my hair is curly. I was young at the time so I felt bad about myself and cried to my mother every day after school. I tried to learn and adapt the culture to blend in, but it didn't work because I grew up different from the rest of my friends. My parents then traveled abroad, they were not one-sided or conservative like other parents. I thought I didn't fit in so I blocked myself from learning Egyptian culture because of the problems I faced. I hated everything. I stayed home most of the time while my friends went out after school. Two years later we returned to Ethiopia and I was very happy to leave Egypt. However, it wasn't as exciting as I expected because I was still facing the same problem at school. Every Wednesday we had a morning presentation where students introduced the different ethnicities of Ethiopia. Even though I knew the culture of Ethiopia, I was considered more Egyptian and therefore the students did not involve me in such activities. I had an identity crisis because I didn't know where I belonged. After living in Ethiopia for five years, my parents decided to move to the United States so my older sisters could attend