Celtic Tiger

1. What factors attributed to the rapid growth in Irish Economy in the early 2000s?

They began to become open to the global market and began trading. They also had a low tax rate (corporate tax rate). This attracted many people to build their businesses in Ireland. Ireland also began to invest in their education more.

2. What factors attributed to the rapid decline in thea Irish Economy?

The decline happened because, with their newfound money, many people in Ireland began to spend..and spend A LOT of their money (expensive restaurant, helicopters etc.). Many bought property, such as hotels. Also, house prices rose extensively. The Irish banks started to loan out tons of money. The Irish government failed to regulate the banks despite several warnings. This created a chain reaction. When the Irish people lost money, the banks didn't have enough money to loan out. Soon the government was bankrupt. :(

3a. 1950-1990

During the 1950's-1990's, Ireland was basically an agriculturally based economy. They didn't trade with other countries around the world. Because of this, they developed slower than other West European countries. During the worldwide recession in the 1980's Ireland had high unemployment. They soon began to flourish, though, during their "Celtic Tiger" phase. America during the 1950's, however, was doing really well while trading with other countries around the world.

3b. 1990-2007

During this time, Ireland was becoming a "Celtic Tiger." As unemployment began to decrease businesses started to flock over, Ireland was thriving. Although not many knew, there were signs that this "Celtic Tiger" phase was not going to last. Anyways, Ireland had one of the highest GDPs. During this period, many migrated into Ireland because of low tax rates (corporate). Ireland's unemployment rate was also very low. For America, in the early 1990's, they were facing a recession.

3c. 2007-2012

Since 2007, the Ireland's GDP has fallen from over 180 Euro billion to less than 160 Euro billion. Residential property prices have also decreased substantially since 2007. America has also not been that well. The US debt has increased substantially (citizens). There has also been a loss in wealth.

4. Please develop three curiosities about the Irish or international economy.

- How come the wealthy Irish people spend all their money instead of saving it?
- Will a nation's economy always crash when they are on a high like Ireland was during their "Celtic Tiger" phase?
- Why isn't Ireland still not able to build itself back up again like they did before?

Our Chicago Field Trip

                                              

Our class travels in small groups of around 5 or 6. A teacher is in charge of each group. It's necessary for us to stay in these groups so that we don't lose one another as well as make sure everyone is at a certain place at a certain time. This will be especially important when we travel outside the country because we will make sure that we will not be late to certain events as well as make sure no one gets lost in such a large and foreign country. 

    I thought that the china in the Irish Heritage Center was interesting because I never knew that those china pieces were important to the Irish culture. All of the pieces were intricately made and beautiful. 

    Our group learned to be exact on time and to never be late. This will be important when we travel to Ireland and the United Kingdom, so I want to make sure that our group isn't late again. We definitely learned a lesson today considering that we caused the teachers to talk quite a bit on how our group was late. I also thought that today was a good day for us to learn how we will be traveling while we are travelling abroad. We were in our groups and in a busy city so I thought that it taught us how we should stick together and make sure that no one gets left behind. 

Beowulf

In Beowulf, the characters Beowulf, Grendel, and Unferth are very similar to the characters in movies (superhero movies in particular) today.

“No man swims in the sea/ As I can, no strength is a match for mine” (25). Beowulf is an incredibly strong man who is famous for being a hero. He slays monsters and no other man can beat him. This prototype of a hero figure is in tons of action and super hero movies today. Like Beowulf, all the heroes or super heroes in modern movies are strong and filled with extraordinary and supernatural strength. Likewise, those heroes become famous for saving lives and fighting off terrifying villains…just like Beowulf did after slaying Grendel the beast. Some examples include: Superman, Spiderman, and Batman.

“Out from the marsh, from the foot of misty/ Hills and bogs, bearing God’s hatred,/ Grendal came, hoping to kill/ Anyone” (33). Grendel is the image of the villains. He is a beast, hungry for blood and for destruction everywhere he goes. In the end though, he is killed by Beowulf. This similar idea is illustrated in the superhero movies in that every evil villain or monster is causing chaos only to get defeated by the hero.

“Unferth spoke, Ecglaf’s son,/ Who sat at Grothgar’s feet, spoke harshly/ And sharp (vexed by Beowulf’s adventure,/ By their visitor’s courage, and angry that anyone/ In Denmark or anywhere on earth had ever/ Acquired glory and fame greater/ Than his own)” (24). Unferth represents that one miserable guy in the movie that wants to get rid of the superhero because he’s jealous of the hero’s great powers and good looks. In the poem, Unferth is jealous of Beowulf’s “adventure” as well as his fame. Even though Beowulf has come to save the town from a deadly beast, Unferth does not favor him because Beowulf had “acquired glory and fame greater/ than his own.”

Who is Tyler MacNiven?

1. The most important thing I can take away from Tyler's approach to travel is his willingness to continue moving forward and not stopping. Throughout the video, it is mentioned that Tyler gets extremely exhausted at times, yet he motivates himself to keep moving forward and continuing on his journey in fear that he will want to stop if he rests. Another thing is his optimism in travel. He never seemed to complain about anything.

2. I think Tyler's approach to travel relates to his his normal everyday life in that he will always want to try new things and motivate himself to complete things that he has already started. I think that he will always have optimism in his daily life considering that he is a happy guy.

3. "Walking is such a great way to travel. It's healthy, it's natural, and it can't be rushed." I can definitely apply this to our upcoming travels because it shows that walking is the best way for one to travel and experience a new place. Another quote in one of Tyler's videos spoken by George Meegan that relates to walking is "When you travel in a vehicle, you are going through the scenery...when you're walking, you're a part of the scenery." When we walk in new or unknown places we not only see our surroundings, but we're putting ourselves into our surroundings and allowing ourselves to interact with things or people that we wouldn't be able to do while in a vehicle.

4. I think his advice for us would be to keep an open mind, to learn new and exciting things, have a good attitude, and not let the little things distract us from an amazing adventure.

5. I'm excited to ask Tyler:
What was the most difficult thing you had to overcome in your long walk in Japan?
Would you do it again but in a different country?


UPDATE:

I thought that the interview with Tyler MacNiven went really well. I thought that he was a really great guy and that he was pretty hilarious. He answered all of our questions from what he thought was most difficult about walking in Japan all the way to questions about his girlfriend and whether they were still together or not. I will definitely look at the trip in a new way. I won't complain about things on the trip probably...(maybe). It will change the trip for me because I will know that I should allow myself to become part of the scenery that we see instead of just looking at scenery.

My Boast

Boast:  Watching the Chicago Bulls

This is Michelle and this is what I gotta say
I watch so much basketball I don't know why I don't get pay.
Derrick Rose is my boy
And Joakim Noah will destroy
Lebron James is nothing against our horns
Cause Carlos Boozer was playin since he was born
We're also dominating cause we're #1 in our division
We're destroying all the teams, but to play is their decision
I would keep talking about the Bulls
But the other cities will get scared and fly away like seagulls.

"Why We Travel"

1. My reasons do align with Iyer's essay because Iyer explains how we travel to escape our lives and enter into a world different than ours. We travel to learn new things and open up our minds to new ideas and cultures.


2. I think that the quote means that when we visit new places, it's not just about touring it, but really imagining ourselves as part of the people that live there. By travelling to new places we can see it with a new perspective instead of regarding to it as just a place we've never been to before. This will relate to us because when the places we have visited come up on the news or on tv, we'll be able to remember going to that certain place. 


3. I think the fear is what gives us the excitement of travel. We never know what to expect and how things will turn out. The fact that we will break out from our normal days and routines will be fearful to us. This might relate to our journey because of the fact that most of us have not traveled a lot or that we haven't been to Ireland before. Because of that though, we don't know what to expect and what we will encounter while we are there.


4. I believe that we do because we're sharing bits of our lives and showing it to other people in other cultures. What we experience in our daily lives may be intriguing to them, and vice versa. We should be able to share our experiences to them which will also make it possible for two people from completely different cultures to feel closer to each other. 


5. "Even as the world seems to grow more exhausted, our travels do not." I chose that quote because it explains that although we may get tired, physically, from the traveling and from the walking, etc, we will never get tired of exploring new places and learning new things. It will constantly keep our minds alert and will never bore us. We will always be learning new things from traveling. 

Travel Experiences

A certain trip/adventure that I took with my family was when we went to Riviera Maya during winter break 2010. It was meaningful because we all had the chance to bond together. We also had the opportunity to do new and exciting things such as snorkeling, and canoing. Some challenges that we encountered was that we had to deal with the language barrier and that we spoke a different language than the indigenous people that lived there. There is also a challenge of adapting to a new culture in just a short period of time. These challenges are unique to travel because it depends on where one is traveling. Each trip is a different experience to different people.