Congeniality

You don't walk into a room here without saying hello, even to strangers, and in a sometimes somewhat impersonal setting. It is markedly different from home. You also don't leave without saying "hasta luego" (see you later - often pronounced something close to "da-lueGO" or just "lueGOOO"). Specifically, I am in a hostel with people who sometimes are only here for a day, and many who I've not met yet, but the Spanish ones and I think Portughese too, always say "hola" and sometimes "buenas dias" as well. In stores or bars, this isn't super common but it can happen even, that a total stranger, another customer, will say hello to you. I mean, in a situation in which it would be unthinkable at home.

You also may be kissed on each cheek by a complete stranger that either is introduced to you or that introduces him/herself, even though you may never meet again, and are only meeting for a few minutes. That doesn't always happen but it may.

Anyways, I far prefer this than what has become almost common at home: you can end up at a party, and sometimes not a very big one, where you will not be introduced to everyone, or even anyone, and no one will introduce themselves to you. And you feel like a weirdo or like you're being overly formal or like you actually "care", which might seem lame, if you are so "earnest" as to introduce yourself, in some situations.

Here it goes in the opposite direction to what may seem like overkill to us: if you don't kiss everyone on both cheeks when you leave a party, it's kind of rude. It is a bit of a hassle by our standards. I don't know how to do it, even, because it means you have to kind of announce that you're leaving, which means that you have to first feel that anyone might care, and then have to interrupt people's conversations to kiss them, which means troubling them, and which for me, is rude and something I can't easily do.

But why would I question that people care... I don't know, but more than the odd experience at home has led me to feel that way. I'm not talking about my good friends, but just about general situations I have been in. It just does not work that way here. Basically the reason it happens at home is that it is just more common for people to keep up a cool exterior, and to not want to be the one to reach out to the other guy.