by Ann Palmieri

Created on: May 23, 2008   Last Updated: December 19, 2009

If you want to learn about your ancestors or other nationalities, you must travel abroad. Before becoming a world traveler, I would have written for the "Home Country" side of this debate. Now I am inclined to choose traveling abroad for several reasons: history, culture, and current affairs. The history of America is important, or course, but it only has 400 years of history as compared to Asia and Europe. It is more important to me in today's world to know how the world is affecting my country, both economically and socially.

I have seen much of America which is beautiful and appealing to me, but when I stepped off the boat in Egypt, I really learned to appreciate my sense of well-being and peace that I have always enjoyed. No longer did I feel safe from people who think and worship differently; neither did I feel the comfort, respect, and appreciation that I feel in the United States. I was appalled by the intense security that is needed there for Americans. The housing for the average person is horrible; of course, they know no difference, or at least it seemed that way. Other countries struck me the same way. It took a trip to another culture to examine my own more closely.

History in many countries is everywhere one looks. In America, one has to search far and wide for real "history." Our history only extends as far back as our Declaration of Independence. In Egypt, pyramids loom close by a large city, calling me back thousands of years. Of course, I have a tree in my yard that is over 400 years old, but doesn't compare with seeing the Sea of Galilee in Israel, where I felt close to my religious roots; in Greece, I saw the land of my grandfather. History came alive and cultures were experienced by touch, sight, hearing and taste.

The cultures of the world are strong in certain states in the US, but the cultures of Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece and Italy permeated their everyday life. In the US, we experience the Greek culture once a year at a local church festival; however, to be in the land of your forefathers is an amazing feeling. To see their cooking rituals, to touch their clothes, to visit their homes, to worship in their churches, and to talk to their people can only be realized without the infiltration of our American ways. The most important part of the experience is to interact with people who don't speak our language or even know us except through television and news reports. They are as interested in who we really are as we are of them. Some

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