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I've been doing this eye-contact experiment, i.e., making eye contact with random people in public places and waiting to see how they react. Reaction in Poland: look away. Reaction in Switzerland: look away. Reaction in California: smile and say "Hi!"

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Swedes avoid making eye contact with strangers like it was the plague, a lot of effort is put into not getting caught looking at someone on public transportation or as you pass people on the street.

My friends from CA were really bad at keeping eye contact during conversations and was really off putting at first as I figured they weren't interested anything I was saying, so I kept switching topics until I figured out what was happening and asked them about it and if I was staring ("little bit").

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