American Experiences Abroad - Assignment - Essay Example

Starting with the explorations of Gene Savoy and Christopher Gist, Americans have been able to travel far and wide in the search for the discovery of new worlds. At the inception of a more perspective based thought process, Americans were under the impression that the world was confined to their land; however, when their famous travellers set sail, they discovered and let the people know that there was more to life than just the piece of territory that a group of people were surviving upon. Discovery is an extremely interesting part of life because it talks about finding out information regarding the yesteryears; it involves looking at things that the past left behind, or finding out about new things in life.

The best feeling involved with discovery is when one may understand it present on a different territory or land. Americans, like Gene Savoy, have been heavily influenced by archaeology; he alone has been able to discover 40 lost cities in Peru. Peru has history of the Mayan and Inca civilizations which were brought to light primarily under the guidance of Savoy, who discovered Vilacabamba, the place where the Incas had taken their last refuge during the time of the Spanish conquest and he has also been known to be named Gran Pajaten.

His expeditions have been recorded in various books and journals which have proved to be extremely helpful for the purpose of both archaeology and exploration. He has, thus, been able to singlehandedly teach American people about the beauty of being able to discover more; he was able to condemn the notion of living with a single view regarding life and not going out and finding out more about life. In his wake, more and more explorers began to travel to far off destinations like India, Japan, China and other Asian countries, in order to settle with their lives there and find out more about the local extracts of these places.

For example, there are a number of Americans that have settled in India today; this is because they have been able to find refuge in aspects of life like yoga, worship of the divine individual, self realization and actualization etc. Americans are also fascinated by the medicinal use of the marijuana plant in parts of India which helps them to think and wander around plains and foothills, meeting new people and living a new way of life. They say that this helps them to connect more with nature and helps to provide a stark difference from living within the hustle and bustle of the cities in America.

Heavy industrialization, they say, has taken the charm of living for oneself away completely in the modern world, thus, they roam in order to change their lifestyle and live a more happy life, which they may find in ashrams in India, as depicted in the movie ‘Eat Pray Love’. Let’s move to modern forms of media: they have helped to show how Americans have abandoned their views about life restricted to their own country. In ‘Casablanca’, the backdrop of the Second World War helps to depict a man torn inside -- whether or not he should listen to his heart or help his love’s husband fight against the Nazis in Casablanca, Morocco.

The protagonist is an expatriate living in Casablanca and, thus, as an American, he is able to figure out new aspects of himself while living abroad altogether1. When people are forced to leave the country due to social or