I love public transportation, more specifically trains. Growing up in the DC metro area I spent a lot of time using the local metro to get around and see the city. So since the first day we arrived and started using the train system in Lisbon, I have been just enjoying learning their train system and comparing it to my experience back home. The first difference is the DC metro is much more intricate and bigger so adjusting to the has been I guess easy you could say as there is less to think about. A little difference that has caused me to miss a stop a couple of times is I am used to the name of the stop being announced on the train back in DC, but here in Lisbon that isn’t the case so if I am too entrenched in conversation or the podcast I am listening to, I end up missing my stop and either having to get off and get back on the other side of the train or just walking a little bit further to my intended destination. However, the really interesting difference to me is less so the infrastructure of the trains but the social interactions that take place. Lisbon has a very different style of social interaction, specifically eye contact. In the United States, we are used to the fact that if we make incidental eye contact with somebody, then both individuals will quickly look away as to not make a situation any more awkward than before. Yet, this is not the same scenario on the trains in Lisbon. Many times have I made eye contact with someone and they often will not break my gaze, at first I thought this was cause I was a tourist or because I was doing something that is culturally inappropriate. However, that has not been the case I have come to learn that is just how people interact with each other. Which, over time has become a welcome experience for me. I no longer feel the need to hide my face in my phone to avoid eye contact, rather I can look up and just enjoy watching the world around me.