A side note about the inevitable "fish out of water" character...I would like to see this character be one that ages somewhat normally, or...well...at all, even. If the series is a success, aka TNG which went into the movies, or 7+ seasons like DS9/VOY, it becomes harder for us to really suspend our disbelief that said character doesn't age. Data, The Doctor, even Odo, I suppose (although makeup effects cure some ills there). Spock was really only ears/eyebrows/haircut, but still maintained a superb and supreme "alien-ness", and even one that ages slower and such, making him accessible to the TNG timelines. It would be nice to see them not paint themselves into a corner with a character that is hypothetically the same throughout. It puts a lot of pressure on an actor to maintain that sameness when the body starts to fail them. Nimoy could plausibly play Spock (and did) right until his final moment on this Earth, and we are all better for it as fans and viewers. All the talk about Spiner coming back really rings hollow to me, because, even if he did attempt a Data cameo of some kind, would we truly accept it, or just comment about how he's too old to do it anymore. Pretty much any other Trek actor could continue their established roles across series lines even now, and we could accept it...age, weight gain, going gray, all of it makes sense to us because they are meant to age. Bringing back some of the most unique characters from the various series now, on the other hand, is pretty tough decades later. Let's see a creatively written alien/special abilities/whatever type character that does not need to rely on the "never changes/ages" thing. I think it ultimately hurts instead of helps.
I'd go as far as to say T'Pol was a lot more curious about the human condition than Spock, despite her initial arrogance. Long before she was telling humans they weren't ready for blablabla, she sneaked out to go to a jazz club. It's clearly experimenting with human emotion (though I'm not sure if it's the same as wanting to BE human). It seems tame by our standards but among Vulcans, she's a freakin wild child. 
I'm not sure what this has to do with anything I said. My main point that that he enthusiastically explored other cultures but as Tenacity said, he was happy to be himself. He was the best at embracing IDIC while (easily) maintaining his Denubulan identity.
