Global Issues -- Globalization

            Globalization is the process of people, companies, and businesses integrating internationally. Globalization is driven by the modernization of our world and has both positive and negative impacts on the Irish economy. A positive of globalization is that it allows Ireland to specialize in products that they can produce the most efficiently. Ireland is the second most globalized country in the world, according to the KOF Index of globalization. Two factors that contribute to Ireland’s globalization are the location and the language. Ireland is located near Europe, Asia, and the United States of America, which benefits the country greatly in terms of globalization. English is one of the world’s most spoken languages, so it being a language Ireland is fluent in also benefits them due to no language barriers existing while trading.

https://cvdl.ben.edu/blog/ireland-globalization/

Global Issues -- Stereotypes

The typical stereotypes of Americans are that they are over-weight. I was very aware of the obesity rate in America, but was unaware of the fact that the United States of America as a whole was stereotyped as obese. Over forty percent of Americans are struggling with obesity, which doesn’t come as a surprise to me. In the movie Philomena that we watched for class, the Irish woman had just discovered that her son was raised in the United States with an American family. After this discovery, she showed concern about her sons weight due to Americans portion sizes being larger and her belief that most Americans are over-weight. I am very interested to see how much of a difference there is in portion sizes while in Ireland or if any citizens believe the same stereotype about Americans.