Over the two months, I spent abroad I gained new skills and I learned a lot about myself that will be useful for the rest of my college career and post-graduation. At the start of this experience, we wrote down skills that we wanted to gain or improve. One of my main goals was to gain confidence and feel more independent. I believe that I was able to accomplish both of these during my two months abroad. There are also things that I gained that I was not expecting. One thing I gained is a greater appreciation for diversity.

Being responsible for myself so far away from my family greatly increased my self-confidence and feeling of independence. From having to do my own grocery shopping and cooking to planning what to do with my free time to navigating the city on my own. All of these things have combined to make me a more mature person and I believe that I will be more capable than the average student to live on my own after graduation. This may be the most beneficial part of Central’s study abroad programs, while I do enjoy most things about Central, one complaint is that they ‘parent’ students. But studying abroad allows students to be on their own and lets them be in control of their own choices. Another thing about Central is that the campus and Pella are small and not diverse. But being at Roehampton, which still has a small campus compared to large state schools here in the states, and in London allowed me to experience what it is like to live in a large city.

According to the 2011 Census, 37% of London residents were born outside of the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, I was not able to find the number of residents in Iowa from outside of Iowa, but I imagine since most counties in Iowa are shrinking that Iowa is made up of mostly of Iowa born people. This allowed me to gain a new perspective and have new experiences, such as visiting the mosque and having a curry in the East End. Having had these experiences, and others, I have learned the value of diversity and how it improves places.

Transportation and air quality in London are the last topics I have to write about. Historically London has had poor air quality because of it being an industrial area and densely inhabited. Currently, the air quality in London is still poor because of air pollution, but there are measures being taken to decrease pollution and improve air quality. According to research done by King’s College London, 4000 people have been hospitalized in the last three years because pollution has aggravated their asthma. One act to improve air quality is the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), this is aimed to reduce the amount of high emission cares in the center of London. The ULEZ in 2021 will cover an area of 1.4 million people. While studies show that air quality in London is poor I never noticed it. It seemed that the ample green space made it seem that pollution was low and that the government was working on improving air quality and reducing pollution. On the green tour we took we also learned that the buses in London were being improved to help reduce pollution, hybrid, all-electric, and hydrogen buses are being used.  While the air quality in Iowa is comparatively better than the air quality in London there are other types of pollution that plague Iowa and London. Water quality in Iowa is poor because of runoff from roads, crop fertilization, and the use of insecticides. So while pollution in London is high it is not a problem that is unique to it.

I have previously written about public transport in my blog. After having time to reflect on public transport and driving again I still feel a similar way. I think that public transport is important in big cities and provides an important service. And after driving a couple of times I realized that while I do enjoy driving, I did not really miss not driving while in London, but I did miss my motorcycle and bike. One aspect of public transport that I have thought about recently because of the coronavirus is how fast pandemics can spread in big cities, and people being reliant on public transport can increase the speed of the viruses spread. And public transport makes it harder to control the outbreak.

Over the last week, I have been able to think about what I want post-graduation, mostly because I am bored with little to do. I have realized that I definitely am in the right major for me and that I want to live in a big city, and perhaps in London or a similar city. Whatever the future brings my study abroad experience has played a major role in shaping it.

Roehampton and Central have a very different campus life. First, Central’s administration would not promote drinking/partying, while at Roehampton lots of campus activities include drinking and clubbing. I think that the way Roehampton handles alcohol is safer because it does not force students to hide drinking, which can be dangerous. And it keeps students from having to drive to drink. Another aspect of campus life that differs from Central is that sports do not dominate the campus. At Central, it seems that the sports teams are the most dominant group on campus. There is a very clear divide between athletes and other students, which makes some groups of students feel very unapproachable and it seems that Central prioritizes sports programs above some academic programs. For example, Central spends lots of money on athletic facilities when academic programs could use more funding and staff. But at Roehampton, there does not appear to be the same divide and the university does not put sports above other things and there is no divide between student-athletes and other students. But, it seems that they have a similar issue with faculty members being overworked and underpaid, although this seems a national issue and out of Roehampton’s control. These things made Roehampton’s campus life more fun and a more inclusive feeling. There are similarities in Campus life at Central and at Roehampton. Both have tons of clubs that make it easy for every student to join a club that they enjoy.

While at Roehampton I attended film society a couple of times. I enjoyed going to this because they showed excellent films and they also followed a meaningful theme, making sure the films taught the students something. For LGBTQ month they showed Pride, which taught me about gay rights and the miner strikes in the UK during the 1980s. I learned a lot about the gay rights movements and the relationship between this community and miners in the UK, and how much they disliked Margaret Thatcher. And for Women’s month, they showed The Farewell, which showed a young women’s struggle with her identity. Students in this club were also informed on current world issues and openly share their opinions. This club was different from many clubs at Central, at Central many clubs evolve into debating politics, while this club was very informative and open.

After reading the linked Country Navigator article I felt that I could relate to the fifth point, Americans are much more direct than Brits. While at work sending emails I felt that I wanted to be more straight forward with clients and ask for information more directly. Although this could be due to the fact that my supervisors had close relationships with their clients, unlike my relationship with suppliers at my previous job, where I did not know who I was talking with. This definitely made communication feel more personable and friendly. Overall, I thought that the points in this article were very accurate in the differences between culture in the US and what I experienced in London.

The last couple of weeks have given me plenty of time to reflect on the time that I spent in London. I have come to realize that the time I spent there was some of the best times of my life and the friends that I had made will no doubt continue to be some of my best friends. While I am definitely sad about the early departure I am grateful for the time I did get to spend abroad. After returning to the states I have noticed more differences between London and the US than when I had arrived in London.

One of the first things I noticed was while in the Charolette was how people dressed, there were plenty of cargo pants being worn there. One of the aspects I appreciated about London was that people dressed a fair bit nicer for daily activities. I feel that this made it seem like people took better care of themselves and made it easier to feel at home in London as I prefer to dress with more care about my appearance.

Another aspect of London that is vastly different is personal space. I was surprised by how quiet places in London were, specifically buses and trains. I even noticed a difference between London and Paris. While in Paris one of the first experiences we had was a Parisian getting on the train and rapping and then going through the train car asking for donations. And while boarding the plane at Heathrow it was very easy to tell who was American and who was not by who was talking to other passengers. Personally, I usually prefer having a quiet commute but I did occasionally miss having conversations with kind passengers.

Yesterday I left my house for the first time since returning home and visited the grocery store. Our local Hy-Vee is very different from the ASDA I had been visiting the previous two months. The first thing I noticed was the huge size difference and the quantities of food available. One of the things that I found interesting is that the variety of goods available is not as large, there is just more of the same items. I believe that this is because of the great diversity in London compared to Iowa City, which is considered quite diverse for a city in Iowa. The diversity in London is, perhaps, the thing I will miss most. The diversity in London allowed me to experience lots of new and different foods, which was one of my favorite things to do.

While at the store I also was reminded that I am underage for another ten and a half months, and how different the drinking culture in the US is from the culture in the UK. I feel that drinking in the US is very excessive and not done in a healthy manner. While in London I felt that drinking was more social and done in a more healthy way. It also seemed that drinking was a norm for many occasions, but almost never excessively. 

After trying new foods, walking/running through London’s parks was another favorite pastime. The abundance of green space in London made it easy to escape the feeling of being in a big city and was a nice escape from the everyday hustle of the city. According to the Independent, London has over 3,000 parks and is over 45% green space. When we learned this during our green tour at the beginning of the semester I found it hard to believe, but by the end of my stay, I found it easily possible. I had barely even seen Richmond park even though I went there multiple times a week. Whether at home or at school in Pella I feel that there is less space to explore, even though most of the area is wide open land. Although much of the greenspace is hidden on rooftops of highrises and inaccessible to the general public, there is still plenty of areas to discover. I do hope that other large and smaller cities try to replicate this idea of green space. 

While I did not watch any TV during my stay, I did notice that the media is usually less sensationalized than media in the US. This current outbreak has really shown the differences between the media in both countries. At the beginning of the outbreak, some media outlets in the US were calling this a hoax and blaming political parties. While in the UK it seemed the media was more accepting of the facts and more worried about presenting the facts to the public, though there are still clickbaity articles in UK media.

I still miss being in London, the current state of things is not helping. I do plan on returning to London sometime, hopefully, sooner rather than later. Recently I have been thinking about returning to London to continue my studies, whether another study abroad program or spending a year to earn a post-graduate degree. While the future is unknown, I do know that my experience abroad has changed me and that I will one day be returning to do some of the things I missed out on. And I will definitely miss being offered a cup of tea when walking into the office.

While in London I visited the Imperial War Museum two times. The first things that I noticed while walking up to the building were the large naval gun and the size of the building itself. Just from the size of the building I knew that this museum would have a great impact on its visitors. The first time visiting the museum was focused on two areas in the museum. The area on culture/fashion during World War II and the Holocaust exhibit. While these two areas are very different, they both show the impacts of war.

The area focused on fashion showed how fashion changed from before the war, during the war, and after the war. Fashion reflects what is happening during the time period, and it shows how everyone experienced the war, even if they were not directly involved in the fighting. During the war, clothing reflected the idea of rations. Clothes were being made with fewer resources and it would reflect poorly on you to wear high-end extravagant clothing. I think this idea the fashion represents the time can still be seen in London today, while fashion is definitely impacted by the weather in London I would be interested in the impact that COVID-19 has on fashion and other long-term effects it will have (perhaps better hygiene). As the virus has already made a large impact on the world economy, I am sure fashion will reflect what has happened.

The Holocaust exhibit is the largest part of the museum and definitely the most impactful part. While going through the exhibit I read about various aspects of the Holocaust that were not covered in previous classes and I learned how widespread it really was. The exhibit is dark, gray, and the rooms get colder as you walk through the exhibit. The construction of the rooms gives a feeling of how dark of a time it was. I think the most impactful part of the museum was the model of a concentration camp. The model showed how the size and really showed how inhumane people could be.

On my second visit to the museum, I visited the remaining parts that I had not yet seen. One of the aspects that I noticed on my second visit was the design of the interior. The walls were slate gray and the floors were polished concrete, this made the building feel industrial and unfeeling. The design was obviously done intentionally to give visitors a certain feeling. I think the idea behind this is to show visitors how unforgiving and cold war is. Personally, I think the IWM does a good job depicting how people are impacted by war.

Visiting the IWM had a similar impact on me that visiting the Arlington Cemetary did. Both depict the effects of war and how large an impact war has not just on soldiers but on everyone. I think that the IWM is a worthwhile visit and everyone would benefit from going. There is something for everyone to take away from visiting.

During class, prior to our visit to the East End, we learned about the history of that area. Starting in the 17th century the East End was home to immigrants and others seen as ‘undesirable’ by other Europeans, Jewish people, Cockneys, Gypsies, etc.. The East End is still home to immigrants today, now mainly Bangladeshi and South-Indians. The presence of these communities can be seen in the shops and markets around the area. But the area has gone through a bit of gentrification. This can be seen in housing prices and I noticed a few chain stores and restaurants in the area, although gentrification is seen as a negative, according to The Independent, infrastructure in the area improved.

The East End is also popular among artists. While visiting the Whitechapel Art Gallery one piece stood out to me, a piece by Daniel Richter called Tarifa. To me the painting depicts refugees, or immigrants, crossing a body of water in a life raft. I believe this painting fits in well in the East End because historically it has been home refugees and immigrants and it shows the sacrifice that many of those people have gone through on their journey. Other pieces in this Radical Figures exhibit depict subjects that have also oppressed in the past and still experience oppression, including women and homosexuals. I think overall this exhibit did a good job depicting these struggles and I enjoyed having this experience.

During our visit to the East London Mosque, we learned about various aspects of Islam. One of the most interesting things I learned is that followers of Islam are not supposed to go into debt. This results in mosques and homes being built in multiple stages. This shocked me because taking on debt to make big purchases is so common in the US and other western cultures. I also was able to compare this mosque to a mosque I have been to back home in Iowa City. The East London Mosque is significantly larger and more intricate. This is probably because the community in London is much larger and therefore is receives more donations, but many of the basics are still the same.

The food that is available in the East End is one of the many ways to see the different communities that are present. Eating at Tayyabs gave many of us our first experience with South Asian food. I was surprised by how many ways they could use one item there. For example, naan bread was prepared in two very different ways. One was a garlic naan and the other was a very sweet naan, it could have been served as a dessert.

While lots of the area has changed, some of the classics still remain and remind you of its origins. Such as the Beigel Bake, which is a reminder of its once Jewish community. When I got my bagel it was not what I was expecting, I am used to a New York-style bagel, which is denser and drier. But what I got was soft and buttery. I will definitely return to Brick Lane to try other famous shops.

This past weekend we (Malcolm, Marin, and I) traveled to Paris. When I think of big European cities I think historic, powerful, and wealthy. Paris seemed to fit this description perfectly. The buildings were old and the architecture was cohesive, no buildings really did not seem to belong there. Almost all the stores, cafes, and restaurants that I walked by appeared to be high end, adding to this idea of a wealthy city. One thing that surprised me was how quiet the city seemed to be. I was expecting the streets and sidewalks to be packed with people, but lots of areas were only occupied by a few, except the more touristy areas. This could be because, unlike in London, the streets and sidewalks are very wide, allowing traffic to flow easier. While in Paris I visited the Palace of Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (just the outside and gardens), and the Notre Dame. All of these places were more stunning in person than in pictures, as expected, but they were way bigger than I was expecting. A stereotype I heard a lot before going to Paris was that Parisians and French were rude, but that was not my experience, people tended to be helpful. One example of their helpfulness was while using the RER they helped us through the gates even though we had the wrong ticket. While there were a lot of things that I liked about Paris, one of my dislikes was the public transportation. Most of the stations were dark, dirty, and had no employees. It was also hard to read the maps and find out which train went where. Another complaint about the public transport is the price, to use RER you had to buy individual tickets which could get as expensive as 10.30 Euros, and tickets were only one-way tickets, meaning you could spend over 20 Euros on a round trip.

I did enjoy my time in Paris a lot, it exceeded a lot of my expectations and I would recommend other people to visit. But for some reason, I felt like I did not fit in very well and the city did not have a very welcoming feel, some of this could be caused by the language barrier, which did make somethings difficult. Personally, I much prefer London as a city to stay in more long term. Visiting Paris really gave me the feeling that London feels more like home than I thought it would. Having been in London for about 6 weeks I have come to find lots of things that I love about the city, to me, it feels cozier and close together than Paris did, this really furthered my appreciation for London. One thing I had previously taken for granted was how many tube and train stations there are around the city. While in Paris I found that stations are located more along the river and main streets, making it a long walk to get a station, and there were not as many connecting lines. But in London, it is easy to find a station and get connecting lines, and fares will top out, making long journeys cheaper. Another difference between London and Paris I noticed was that in Paris I knew that I was in Paris no matter where I was in the city. This is because the are more cohesive and all give the same feeling. But London is so diverse that different areas feel like they could be a separate city.

There were a few surprising experiences that I had during the trip. The first was when we arrived at the Airbnb, we talked to one of the neighbors, I think his name was Jon, we talked about where we are from and he mentioned that he would like to move to the US one day. The reason he gave was he believes that the US is more open and accepting than France. I found this shocking because I believed that in general, western Europe was more accepting than the US, especially being from the Midwest where there are many areas that are extremely bigoted and unaccepting of people who are different than they are. But after this interaction, I will have to try and be more aware of what is happening around me and see if I can see what Jon sees. Perhaps he was talking about outside of Paris, I know from what you have told us that outside of London is very different and more ‘old-fashioned’ and France could be similar to England in that sense. The other thing that shocked me was after eating at a cafe, which was already pricey, and paying the bill, the waiter mentioned that they accept tips. While the service was good, I felt that the price should have included service. I think that he may have done this because it was a more touristy area and he knew that we were Americans.

Overall I think that going to Paris was a worthwhile experience and I experienced a wide range of things. We stayed in a more residential area outside of the main area of Paris. This allowed us to experience multiple people and cultures in Paris, like our neighbor, who really gave us some insight on what he thought of France. I look forward to traveling to other cities across Europe and hope to have as good as an experience there as I did in Paris.

While here in London I have visited three different so far, Portobello Market, Brixton Market, and Camden Market. These three markets are very different from each other and showed how diverse London can be. My favorite part of visiting markets is being able to try new foods that are not offered at home and eating foods that are offered in Iowa and comparing them.

The first market I visited was the Portobello Market in Notting Hill. I found the setup of this market to be very interesting, vendors were located along a road that was being used for travel. This market offered many antique shops and vendors as well as clothing stores and clothing stalls. Prices ranged greatly among the many shops, one store offered clothes over £300 while another offered clothes for less than £10. While at Portobello market I tried a chicken wrap from an Asian food stand and a latte from a bar that had a stand there. I am looking forward to going to this market on a Saturday when the weather is nice because there is live music to enjoy while eating and drinking.

I visited Brixton Market last Saturday. This market had lots of fresh fish, meat, and vegetable vendors. Personally, this has been my least favorite market so far because most of the market was selling raw food, which is hard to cook and store in our kitchens on campus. But there were also many restaurants around the market offering a variety of food and drink. This market would be good for someone looking for a diverse range of foods to try. I think I would have enjoyed this market way more if I had not gone on a very windy and rainy day.

Friday and today I visited Camden Market. This market is very easy to get to from campus, making it a place that I will visit frequently. This market had a huge variety of shops and food, some of the shops are targeted at tourists, but they sell good souvenirs for cheap to buy for family back home. My favorite part of this market is walking through the food stands and trying samples that are being handed out, this allows you to sample a wide range of food. One thing about the food here is that it is a little pricey, perhaps due to how busy it is. There are also a few pubs and bars around the market, allowing you to find a place to relax and escape the busy streets. So far, this is my favorite market because you can enjoy it rain or shine, there are many shops that are covered allowing you to escape the weather.

This term I have joined the film society on campus. This club has allowed me to talk with students from a variety of backgrounds and hear their opinion on topics. Last week we watched Pride (2014), which was about strikes for gay rights and strikes for miners during the 1980s, students also talked about the current teacher strike that is happening here at Roehampton.

Over the last few weeks while comparing life in London and life in Iowa I have noticed that there appear to be less of an obesity epidemic here. While walking and taking public transport here there appears to be a significant decrease in the obese population compared to back home. While thinking about this I came up with several explanations for this. First, food sold in the UK could have less sugar and be healthier overall compared to food in the US. Second, people in London walk more than people in Iowa because driving is less common, leading to a healthier lifestyle. And last, healthcare is more affordable in the UK than in the US for most, this could lead to people visiting the doctor more regularly and creating a healthier lifestyle.

During the first week here in London I ate a chicken sandwich and fries from McDonald’s, I noticed a difference in how the sandwich tasted compared to one in the US. I also noticed the fries were salted less and contributed the lack of salt to the taste differences. I looked up the ingredients McDonald’s uses to make fries in both the US and UK and fries in the UK are made with significantly fewer ingredients. In the US the ingredients are potatoes, vegetable oil(canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate, salt. Fries in the Uk consist of potatoes, vegetable oil(sunflower oil, rapeseed), dextrose(1). Although they have a similar calorie count, UK fries have less saturated fat than US McDonald’s fries.

In England for trips that are under one mile in length 81% of them are walked(2), compared to roughly 45% in the US for trips under one mile(3). This statistic did not surprise me, while here I have seen people walking no matter the time of day of where they are, but at home, it was rare that I would see people walking outside of a small area. It seems that London is a more walkable area for a few reasons. First, there are sidewalks along every street and there are other walking paths. Second, there are smaller shops that make it easier to find one within walking distance. Lastly, there are green spaces for leisurely walks, while I have been here I walk in Richmond Park 2-3 times a week. I think that if Iowa City adopted some of these ideas more people would walk and car trips would be reduced, and people would live a healthier lifestyle.

Roehampton seems to be focused on promoting sustainable living. They have automatic lights along paths and in buildings to reduce energy consumption, the campus has tons of green space and an organization called Growhampton promotes sustainable and organic food. Growhampton also runs The Hive which offers healthy and organic options. I feel that both Central and Roehampton focus on sustainability and have options for students to get involved with sustainability efforts on campus. One thing that I believe could be done at Roehampton is creating a compost bin that students could use for leftover food and food scraps instead of throwing them away. At the Union Bar, they serve drinks in single-use plastic cups and they serve some of their food in to-go containers, this creates a large amount of waste. To reduce waste from single-use plastics and to-go containers they could serve drinks in glass cups that would be cleaned and reused and serve food on either trays or plates if they are serving food that will be eaten there.

I believe that Central could create a student organization similar to Growhampton that focuses on getting food from on-campus through small gardens and the chicken coop that provides eggs and opportunities for students to learn. Another initiative that Central could take from Roehampton is the preservation of green space that helps maintain the campus’s natural biodiversity. The greenspace on Roehampton’s campus is full of native species that help animals and other species live in their natural habitat and promote a healthy ecology/biodiversity. These green spaces also provide students and community members a place to walk and relax. Central could do a better job of using its greenspace more effectively by planting native grasses, flowers, and trees. This would help bring native wildlife to campus and could help campus towards becoming carbon neutral.

Overall I think Roehampton does a great job of promoting sustainability, maintaining a green campus, and involving students in its efforts. And that Central could easily adopt some of their practices to improve campus life and reduce its environmental impact.

(1)Food Babe. “Food in America Compared to the U.K. (Why Is It so Different?).” Food Babe, February 28, 2019. https://foodbabe.com/food-in-america-compared-to-the-u-k-why-is-it-so-different/.

(2) UK Publishing Service. “Walking and Cycling Statistics, England: 2017” HMPS, August 30, 2018. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/736909/walking-and-cycling-statistics-england-2017.pdf

(3) “More People Walk to Better Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 6, 2013. https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/walking/index.html

While traveling through London in the last three weeks I have passed by buildings that were built over 1000 years ago and buildings that have not even been completed yet. Even though I have passed these historic and new buildings I had yet to stop and think about how life in London has changed over that time period.

On Saturday, I visited the London Museum for this assignment. Before coming to London I had heard about how diverse the city was and how many different cultures are present in the city. While visiting the museum I went to an area that explored the Roman Age of London’s history. From 50-410 AD Romans controlled what was then called Londonminuim. I found this interesting because they set up London as an important port for trade and travel, laying the foundation for what London is today. And during this time many Europeans came to London and the surrounding area to live, creating a diverse city. This helped me understand why London such a diverse and prosperous city. I also learned that Ceaser’s camp was located where Heathrow Airport is now, so we’ve all already been there! In this area, I also saw what is claimed to be the oldest structure in London, the London Wall, which was built by the Romans in the 2nd or 3rd century.

One exhibit that I found emotionally moving was in the ‘People’s City’, during the Second World War London had been bombed, known as The Blitz, for over 50 days and nights. During this time Londoners used the Underground’s stations as makeshift bomb shelters. During The Blitz, rail cars were used to deliver food and refreshments to Londoners. This gave me an understanding of why the Tube and Underground are synonymous with London. I also thought this area of the museum did a good job showing how much London had changed technologically from the 1850s to the 1950s and what struggles that forced and how the city adapted to the changes. This gave me an appreciation for how well technology has been integrated into the city, from being able to see when the bus will arrive to having charging ports for cars. 

While there I noticed a lot of parents taking their kids through the museum and explaining different parts of London’s vast history. This really showed the value Londoners see in education and particularly the emphasis on their city’s history. I found this interesting because at least from my experience, there is not much emphasis on knowing your city’s history. But this is probably because cities in the US are relatively young compared to London and do not have a long history.

The life of a Londoner has changed drastically over time but the ways of life that came before have not been forgotten. And the history of the city is still visible in everyday life, from historic buildings like Westminister Hall to the Underground. The biggest takeaways from my visit are how much history London has and how much has changed from when London was first founded. But also how London continues to make history through innovation. 

Part One

During my first two weeks here in London I have noticed a few key differences between residents here versus residence in Iowa, and the States in general. One of the differences I first noticed was while taking public transport, the bus and the rail system, passengers generally keep to themselves and will rarely talk to strangers. Even when buses and carriages are near capacity I could still hear the sounds of the bus engine. I find that this makes it much more pleasant to use public transport here compared to public transport in the US, which I think is often filled with loud, obnoxious, and rude passengers. More than 3 million Londoners use public transport daily. I believe the popularity of public transport here can be partially attributed to the culture here. Public transport in the US has increased in popularity recently but 45% of Americans do not have access to any type of public transportation. Personally, I believe the low usage rate of public transport in the US is caused by the stigma associated with it and the lack of infrastructure for public transport making it an ineffective mode of transportation. In Iowa City, where I live, buses are unreliable and there are only a few routes, making it hard for residents to get to their destinations.

During my internship, my supervisors were talking about housing with a relative and one important part of the process of house searching was how accessible public transport was from the house and how long the journey to their workplace would be. It was evident that cutting down on commute time is important in London. When my parents were looking for a new house a few years ago distance to work was not a key factor in decision making and availability to public transportation was never a factor.

After having a few days to think about this conversation, to me, it appears that Londoners view having more time at home and time to experience their city is more important than it is to many Americans, who care about having large houses and yards. The more time I spend using public transport the more flaws I see with it, but my appreciation for it also continues to grow. I think that public transport in the US could be popular and help cut down on emissions and travel times if money was invested in increasing infrastructure.

Part Two

While grocery shopping at ASDA I have noticed that most, if not all, shoppers bring reusable bags with them to the store. The UK enacted a 5p charge for plastic bags during 2015, and since then sales in plastics bags have decreased by 90% in the UK’s seven largest retailers, decreasing from 7.5 billion to 550 million plastic bags sold annually. At the ASDA near campus, the charge for buying a plastic bag is 15p, but the bags are more durable than the typical single-use bags. I have bought two bags while shopping but they are reusable and I no longer need to buy plastic bags while shopping. While this personal choice is heavily incentivized, through the charge, for me this is an easy practice to adopt and is not very inconvenient. I believe that once I return to the US this habit will be very easy to continue. Another single-use plastic that I have avoided using while in London are Ziploc bags, instead, I have been using reusable Tupperware, although I only made this choice because I could not find plastic bags while shopping, this choice has cut down on my plastic waste. Another thing that I have noticed in supermarkets here is that the produce is clearly labeled with where it was grown, this makes it easier for shoppers who are looking for more locally grown produce, cutting down on the pollution created through transport to the UK. Although I have not made the choice to cut down on my food miles, this choice is made easier through clear labeling.

I noticed that in our flats the recycling bin is near the same size as the rubbish bin. And both bins are equally used. Compared to my dorm at Central, where people throw significantly more stuff away than they recycle. I think the choice to recycle is made easier here by having clearly labeled recycling instructions on the product. This makes it easy to correctly recycle things instead of just throwing them away. 

It is apparent to me that there have been large efforts in the UK to encourage more sustainable practices on a personal level. And the country has seen positive results from these efforts. I think that if these practices were adopted on a global scale sustainability would see a dramatic increase and waste and plastic use would decrease similar to how it has in the UK.

1. “The Millions of People Who Use Public Transport in London Every Day Deserve a Frequent, Comprehensive, and Fairly Priced Service.” British Politics and Policy at LSE, February 7, 2012. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/travel-watch-keep-london-moving/.

2. “Public Transportation Facts.” American Public Transportation Association. American Public Transportation Association, October 28, 2019. https://www.apta.com/news-publications/public-transportation-facts.

3. Smithers, Rebecca. “Plastic Bag Sales in England down by a Third in Last Year.” The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, August 1, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jul/31/shoppers-use-of-plastic-bags-in-england-continues-to-fall.