Thought of the Day (U.S. Culture Shock Series)

Portrait | The Eyes are Window of the Soul
Originally uploaded by Diyana Kamaruza

Because I'm not finding as much time to sit down and blog as I did when I was abroad, my final thoughts are going to be a bit more spread out... This is installment #1 of my "U.S. Culture Shock Series."

Emilee's thought of the day:

People look you in the eye (in the Netherlands and in Europe as a whole).

It's not something you really think about, but in the U.S., people don't really look you in the eye. It's considered rude to stare, and I'm pretty sure that we've all experienced an awkward moment when you accidently make eye contact with a stranger.

In Europe, however, people aren't so uptight about eye contact. It can be a little unnerving at first, because it seems like they're staring at you! But after a while, you realize that it's just a cultural difference and it becomes natural.

Even I started really looking at people more, and that's when I had a revelation: People are more interesting when you look them in the eye! My final project, "People are beautiful," stemmed from this realization.

Now that I'm back in the States, I seem to be the creeper who is staring other people in the eye. I don't do it consciously, and I definitely don't want to seem like a crazy person, but I don't really see what the big deal is... It might seem like an invasion of privacy (but why really?) but for me, looking in someone's eyes is a way to figure out their story - and you really appreciate people more when you really think about a person in THEIR context, not yours.

Like the saying goes: "The eyes are the window to the soul."