The midwest where I am originally from, (Ohio) is a particularly friendly area I think. When I moved to Georgia, the first hundred times I had someone say "hey" to me I wondered, "Hey, what?" But that, my friends, is the greeting in this region of the south. I kinda like it,I guess. People are generally friendly here also, and I do think the more open a person is with others the more likely they are to opening up to you as well. It didn't seem to work too well on a train from Brussels to Bruges though! Everyone I smiled at looked at me like I was a nutcase.