Have you ever been on a bus anywhere, especially in the United States, and even more specifically at Texas A&M University? You first get on that bus and sit as far away from the other person as possible. It is that initial "I don't want to be weird and sit right next to them when there is nobody else on the bus" that basically represents all of the United States when it comes to Proxemics. In the United States, most of us are used to standing at such a distance, that anything closer becomes so uncomfortable we don't know what to do with the situation. Usually this distance is about 2 feet or more for anybody in the United States - this isn't to say that in situations people don't use different distances, such as a very close-knit family or a romantic couple, but most Americans are used to expressing their romantic lives outside of the household to a certain extent.
Italy... Italy is completely opposite when it comes to how people interact with others in terms of proxemics. There have been many instances where having a nice walk along the streets turns into a love fest. This love fest can be anything from an intense make-out session right in front of you to a couple completely sitting on each others laps when there are so many other seats around them to be sitting. Is this wrong? Should people say something? In my opinion, absolutely not. Yes, there are times where seeing all of that is just not what we're expecting in the moment and it can be very disruptive or interesting to see but this is the culture we entered into. Every country is different and goes about things differently when it comes to certain aspects such as proxemics. It is so common for Europeans to be especially close and romantic when expressing any type of affection.
I wouldn't say that I am completely comfortable with everything that I see here in Italy and the romantic and familiar space that we see every day has definitely taken some getting used to. It is still something that we bring up on a daily basis because it is just so out of the norm for us and we don't know what to do with the situation at the time. Having such close proxemics in Italy also makes it difficult to see when a man or woman is being very creepy towards someone or when they're just genuinely interested in you. All of these aspects to say that it is something new for all of us. We are experiencing something out of our norms but all learning as we go along.
Seeing what other countries consider appropriate and not appropriate is truly eye opening. It not only shows how open they are but how closed off Americans (as a whole) truly are. It's easy to judge from the outside in but to see the whole picture and look back and realize, it's just a way of expression in a different light, is so much easier to understand.