Welcome to strangers from KCW's independent producer project and storycentral.org.

My name is Leah Tao, and I'm talking to you from my home country of Denmark, where I've spent the last couple of weeks.

And like many people, I say home when I'm talking about the place that I'm from.

But the truth is that I've lived in the U.S. for more than 17 years now.

And these days, I feel more at home there than I do here.

But I remember when I first moved to New York, I thought Americans were really strange.

And in many ways, I was surprised because on the surface, Americans and Danes don't seem that

different.

And yet, I felt like Americans were purple blobs from out of space that had taken human form just to confuse me.

Americans were so open, perhaps New Yorkers especially. I remember the woman who trained me in my

first waitressing job and how in the span of 10 minutes she had told me about two different eating disorders she'd had

and what antidepressant she was currently on.

And the way this affected her sex drive and how that had led to her most recent breakup.

And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

I have friends that I have known for 10 years who've shared fewer personal details with me than you just did.

But in other ways, I found it extremely pleasant the way Americans were so open, always asking questions and calling you honey and making you feel interesting and welcome.

Parties in America were like these well-oiled machines where everyone was greeted and handed a drink

and introduced to everyone else in this unbroken flow that felt to me so elegant and virtuous.

It was like the way people from the third world must experience first world infrastructure.

You know, just it didn't seem possible that things could run that smoothly.

It may strike some people as superficial, because of course there's absolutely no guarantee that

it's attached to any kind of genuine affection. But I found it to be so charming and such a relief

...