7 Innocent American Habits That Quietly Ruin Your First Impression Abroad

You Think You’re Being Friendly, but Locals Might Just Think You’re Rude… or Worse, Culturally Clueless

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Image Created by the Author and Dall-E

Have you ever walked into a room in another country and, without saying a word, managed to offend half the people in it?

I have. More times than I can count.

The first time this happened was in 1999.

It was my first week in Kyiv, and I was grinning ear to ear like a tourist who’d just found a clean McDonald’s toilet.

I smiled at a cop. He didn’t smile back.

He stared at me like I had just confessed to being in the country illegally, before asking to see my Passport.

Apparently, in post-Soviet Ukraine, a random smile doesn’t say “friendly guy.” It says “I’m up to something.” Lesson learned.

Later, in rural Piedmont, Italy, I made another classic American move. I greeted an elderly woman I had just met with her first name.