On April 28, just eight days before leaving for the World War II study abroad program, I ran the Glass City Marathon as my second marathon ever. When I left I knew that it would take me a week or two for my body to recover from the Glass City Marathon, but I also knew I wanted to try and run at least once in every country we visited in the free time we had on our itinerary. At the time it felt like a tragedy when I realized I had left my AirPods in my mom’s car when she dropped me off at Detroit International Airport. Adjusting to the five hour time difference and still dealing with incredibly sore feet prevented me from going on my first run until our last day in London, but it was still an unforgettable experience. Only a quarter mile run from our hotel was Kensington Park containing Kensington Palace, the former residence of Princess Diana. The park had small dirt running trails, which are much softer to run on, that accompanied all of the concrete walk ways and even veered off on their own at points which created an amazing experience, especially for my legs that were still a little torn up.

Photo of Kensington Palace I took on my run through Kensington Park.

After London, we went to Bayeux, which in comparison to the other four cities on our itinerary is an incredibly small town with 12,000 residents, which reminded me of small hometown. At home, I frequently run the same four and half mile loop around my entire town running on a bike path and the sidewalks I was able to do the same in Bayeux, which really speaks to the small size of the town. I woke up at 6:30am permitting experience the city entirely to myself, except for a duo of trash workers, in a way that felt much more personal than any of the other cities. I took pictures of the towns stunning Bayeux Cathedral to share with my mom without having to worry about someone else getting into my picture. From Bayeux we bussed to Paris; my least favorite of the five cities to run in because we were some distance from any of park that I could run in. What made up for the lack of greenery, was the amazing architecture that existed everywhere. It seemed like I ran by breathtaking buildings, especially churches, everywhere I went. I was also stunned by the amount of extremely well done and creative street art that dotted what seemed to be everywhere. Paris might be the city of love, but for me it is the city of art, especially street art.

Graffiti I found that caught my eye while on a run since it is physically popping out from the wall.

Right next to our hotel was the Old Town Center which is entirely circled by Planty Park. The park was only around 2.5 miles around and not very wide, but was an experience I wish I could experience again in the States. During entire route I was stunned by the beauty of the park, and was able to see dozens of buildings with stunning architecture, and even unexpectingly took me by the beautiful Wawel Castle. We again coached to Berlin, where I searched on Apple Maps trying to find landmarks near our hotel and I saw the May 10, 1933 Nazi Book Burning Memorial was within running distance. This memorial was very impactful for me and since I ran there on my own I was able to stop and have a personal moment of reflection.

Nearby a plaque reads “Where they burn books, they eventually burn people.”
– Heinrich Heine 1820-21
In memory of where Nazi university students burned 20,000 books by Jewish authors including Heinrich Heine’s works.

On the way back I experienced beautiful views of the Berlin Cathedral, the Berlin TV Tower, and the river Spree. Overall, I am eternally grateful that I left my AirPods in my mom’s car at the Detroit Airport because it allowed me to experience these cities without the distraction of a podcast spewing out information or music blasting in my ears, allowing me to take in the noise of the environment around me and feel grounded. The opportunity to run in these five cities has allowed me to just experience the city better and gave me a deeper appreciation for what it is like to actually live my life abroad, not just visit.

By: Mat Jackson

The first time that I used wooden utensils was on my six and a half hour flight from JFK International Airport to London Heathrow International Airport for my in-flight meal on Delta Airlines. This was my first exposure to how differently other parts of the world treat the issue of plastic waste polluting our planet and even though a wooden fork and knife is such a small change, it stuck with me. After getting off the plane at Heathrow, I went and bought myself a water bottle and struggled to get the cap fully off. The reason for my struggle was that the caps are intentionally designed to not fully come off in order to help prevent littering of the caps, which are much smaller than and easier to lose than the bottles.

Plastic bottles in Europe are designed to have their caps remained attach to the bottle after opening to prevent littering and to ensure recycling.

Admittedly, I did not even realize this was the purpose until one of my professors told me after I had already ripped off the cap, defeating the point. Later that night, I struggled for nearly ten minutes trying to turn on the lights, until I realized there was a slot for me to put in my keycard in order to turn them on, that ensures when I leave my room the lights turn off.

On our way from Bayeux to Paris, we stopped at a rest stop where I got McDonald’s and had my first McDonald’s hamburger ever. Part of why I finally felt comfortable in trying a McDonald’s hamburger is that in America I have completely sworn off of fast food besides Chipotle and Pizza because fast food just does not taste like real food. But, the food in Europe has tasted so much better and I heard that it was true for European McDonald’s as well, and it was better which made me feel comfortable trying the European version of fast food chains that I had sworn off in America. Besides this being the first time I had a McDonald’s hamburger, I was confronted with even more new alternatives to plastic. The Fanta I ordered came in a biodegradable cup with a biodegradable lid that resembled more of a coffee cup than the clear plastic McDonald’s cup and straw I am used to in the US. I am a big fan of this, mainly because it avoids the issue of sogginess after extended use that plagues paper straws.

McDonald’s Fanta with a paper straw, a biodegradable lid, and a biodegradable cup

Additionally the sundae I got came with a wooden spoon instead of a plastic one, but also came in a biodegradable paper box instead of the plastic cup I am used to getting in America. I was also surprised when one of my fellow students, Erik, and I sat down at KFC and we received our meal in reusable containers that are a part of many new changes introduced to meet EU regulations. Furthermore, I have been astonished by trash/recycling can system that has separation for actual trash, paper, glass, and metal/plastic at almost every fast food restaurant I have been to and in all of our hotels. My final meal in Paris was at a small pizza shop my colleagues and I stopped at after returning from a river tour was the first restaurant I had ever been to that used metal straws.

An example of the separation of recyclable materials and trash that divides into paper, plastic, glass, and trash; taken at the Vienna House Hotel in Krakow, Poland.

My final experiences with more environmentally friendly matters was glass bottles. I used to buy coke in glass bottles as a kid for the novelty, but I have been kind of shocked by the amount of glass water bottle and pop bottles I have gotten in Europe. In America, besides my childhood fascination with glass Coke bottles, I have never really drank anything from a glass bottle until this trip. After looking into glass bottles more I have found out that glass, unlike plastic, is infinitely recyclable. All of these tiny changes are memorable to me because it gives me hope that we can continue to make changes that prevent the further pollution of our planet that way future generations can enjoy the same planet we enjoyed. These experiences make me want to do more in order to help reduce waste and I have been researching different ways for me to do my part in reducing my waste footprint such as reusable bags or buying metal straws to keep in my fanny pack.

By: Mat Jackson

By: Mat Jackson

The first thing I did after touching down and leaving the airport, was use London’s Underground. This was my first time riding a train or using public transport of any kind besides the CABS (Campus Area Bus System) on Ohio State’s campus. I was shocked by the scale of London’s Underground in comparison to the CABS and was felt lost and confused when I looked at the map and to figure out where I needed to go. Luckily, I ran into some of my fellow students, and we were able to figure it out together. After getting to the hotel, I was further shocked by the scale of the Underground that seemed to go everywhere. We took it everywhere in London including the Imperial War Museum, the Churchill War Rooms, and even different restaurants that would’ve been an hour or more walk.

Picture of me inside of Westminster Station after visiting the Churchill War Rooms

In this way everything seemed within a walking distance because I only had to walk three minutes to the nearest station from the hotel, then just sat down on the train for around ten minutes while I had unforgettable conversations with my classmates. I was also shocked by how often the trains ran since I have regularly waited upwards of 20 minutes on OSU’s campus for a COTA bus before but waited no more than ten minutes on the Underground. 

Picture of Elephant & Castle Station

Even Bletchley Park felt so close to London thanks to the use of a regional train which made my ride smooth, quick, and efficient. I searched how far away Bletchley park was from our hotel on Apple Maps so I could compare to it routine drives I take in Ohio, and it said by train it was only an hour and 20 minutes, but by car it was an hour and 30 minutes. This is about the same amount of time it takes me to get to Ohio State from my hometown and makes me feel extremely jealous of the English transportation system. I feel jealous because I always had to find a ride to school because I lived in a dorm last year and could not park my car on campus. So, the thought of being able to use public transportation like the London Underground to maneuver around Ohio State’s campus area or to even get to campus makes me extremely envious of the English transportation system.