I don’t understand a single word being spoken by the people around me. For my entire life I have been learning, speaking, writing, and reading a single language. Now I struggle to communicate with those who do not understand English. I am trying to fit into a country I don’t belong to, with people I don’t know. Although I am only visiting, I have to find a way to connect. When Icelandic flight attendants welcome me on the plane in their native language, my answer is a simple smile, a universal tool that can be understood by anyone.

Several years ago, my family and I were wandering around cobblestone Canadian streets when I saw an old man sitting on the ground. He wore a ball cap backwards on his head, held a guitar that looked as if it hadn’t been tuned in decades, and had a harmonica hanging around his neck. He pointed to the Canon camera hanging from my dad’s neck and said, “Can you take a picture of me, sir? I want people to see me smiling.” He gave us two thumbs up. Without hesitation, my dad snapped a picture of this man’s sweet, sincere smile.

A few years later I traveled to Hawaii, where Carlos returned my smile when I walked up to buy a coconut from his stand. He suffered from a severe brain injury that made his words slur and sentences come out very slowly. After I listened to his story, he requested, “Take a picture of me smiling. I want to be famous!” Again, I was astonished by a stranger’s willingness to share a smile with me and a camera. Carlos posed with his machete in the air and a welcoming Hawaiian grin on his face, and I captured another smile.

On the streets in Paris, I came across a frail, older woman. She was dancing under the moonlight as her husband played a beautiful tune on the accordion. I was one of a few people who gathered on the curb to admire her. I reached for my camera to record this moment. When she saw it, she smiled and danced with even more animation, shuffling her feet and swaying her arms. We didn’t need to have a conversation in order to acknowledge the appreciation we had for each other; it was all expressed in a smile.

No matter the language, culture, religion, or country, smiles connect people. I look forward to exploring more of the world and encountering smiles wherever I go. A simple smile can travel around the world.