Léa came to NYC on a J-1 visa for a sustainability internship—and ended up running 26.2 miles. Discover how Career Training USA became a journey of professional growth, community, and crossing unexpected finish lines.
It was mid-August in France, and Léa Rees had a problem. She’d just been selected for the NYC Marathon through an InterExchange lottery—but it was 40°C (104°F) outside, and she was supposed to be on vacation.
“I was so stressed because I was like, I need to go run now, but it’s 11 a.m. It’s 40° outside,” Léa recalls. “So either I wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning and I was like, ‘No way. That’s my one week vacation.’”
She decided the training could wait until she returned to New York. What couldn’t wait was the opportunity itself.
A Multicultural Path to New York
Léa had already lived in multiple cultures before coming to the United States. She was born in France, grew up in Italian-speaking Switzerland, and studied in Milan. There, she earned degrees in environmental business law and sustainable development.
Léa joined the Career Training USA program to intern at a global shipping company in New York. She soon learned her internship would connect two different ways of thinking about the environment—one European, one American.
“In the U.S., businesses are not as sustainability-driven,” Léa explains. “But in Europe we focus on it a lot. So I tried to implement more and more good practices across our offices.”
As a Sustainability Analyst Intern, Léa collected environmental data from the company’s 10 U.S. offices. She also helped introduce European sustainability practices to American operations — a beautiful example of how J-1 exchange programs help people share knowledge across cultures.
The Unexpected Challenge
While Léa was focused on bridging sustainability practices at her internship, an unexpected opportunity arrived in her inbox. InterExchange was announcing an “inside lottery” for the NYC Marathon race bibs (the numbers runners wear). Although she had been running for a decade and had completed the Brooklyn Half Marathon that April, a full marathon wasn’t on her to-do list.
“I wasn’t planning to do a marathon at all, ” Lea admits. “It was not in my plan. I love running, but I wasn’t ready for a marathon.” In a moment of courage, she decided to apply, but again panic began to set in. “And when I got your [acceptance] email, like, ‘Oh, you have been selected,’ I was like, ‘No way I’m doing this. No way. I won’t be able.’
It was ultimately her mother that gave her the final push: “So, I called my mom, and my mom was like, ‘Oh, no. You can do it and you’re going to do it. That’s the best marathon ever. Do it.’ I was like, ‘Okay, I’m doing it.’”
From there, it was full speed ahead.
Finding Family 5,000 Miles from Home
Training for 26.2 miles is never easy, but doing it during an extremely hot New York summer adds greater challenges. Léa faced 40°C (104°F) heat and demanding workdays, but she didn’t do it alone.
When Léa returned to New York in late August, she discovered something unexpected: both of her new roommates were also training for the marathon!
“The whole vibe at the house was like, okay, we go running. Okay, we don’t go out. We don’t hang out anymore with our friends. We have a different social life. But that’s okay. We stop drinking. We sleep a lot. We eat a lot of pasta.”
Beyond her apartment, Léa found a running community that became central to her New York experience. Wednesday night runs. Saturday morning group sessions. Trips to Las Vegas and Los Angeles to cheer on friends at other races. The marathon became more than a personal challenge—it connected her to NYC’s international community.
“New York is a special city because there are a lot of immigrants, a lot of international people coming from everywhere,” she reflects. “Everybody’s looking for this kind of security vibe, family vibe, because we are far away from our family. So it’s easy to bond and connect because we just want to spend time together and want to share love.”
The support extended to her office, too. When marathon day arrived, her colleagues showed up along the route to cheer her on. “My team was so proud of me,” she says. “They told me that.”
Race Day: A Victory Lap
Still, the training demanded sacrifice. At peak preparation, Léa was running 60 kilometers per week while interning full-time and maintaining her apartment.
“My whole life was like… you need to fit everything inside one day. And one day is 24 hours, but I need to sleep nine of them,” she laughs. “It was really tough and sometimes really exhausting, but I loved every moment and I knew why I was doing it.”
On race day, all that hard work paid off. Aiming for a time of 4:30, Léa surpassed her own expectations, crossing the finish line in 4 hours and 8 minutes.
“I was just enjoying it, running faster and faster and faster all the time because I knew that I could,” she recalls. “I had all the resources and all the energy left in my legs and I was keeping the energy for the end. I really enjoyed how I dealt with my whole run from the beginning to the end.”
No pain. No suffering moments. Just 26.2 miles of pure joy through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan.
What Cultural Exchange Really Means
When people think of cultural exchange, they often imagine practicing a language or trying new foods. That certainly is part of it!
After the race, Léa’s friends met her at the end of Central Park and helped her walk to Brooklyn, where a group of 20 marathoners gathered to celebrate. The next day, Léa and her roommates embarked on a victory tour of the city: collecting the free Shake Shack burger, picking up a commemorative cap from New York or Nowhere, and buying the New York Times newspaper to see the marathon coverage. Monday night brought a well-earned trip to QC Spa on Governors Island.
But Léa’s year in New York shows cultural exchange is also about something deeper: it’s about bringing your whole self—your expertise, your traditions, your willingness to grow—to a new environment, and letting that environment change you in return.
A year ago, she never imagined that coming to New York for a sustainability internship would lead to crossing a marathon finish line surrounded by a community that felt like family. One last-minute reply to an email changed everything—and gave her a new way to experience the city she’d grown to love.
“I completely fell in love with that city,” Léa says. “It wasn’t even in my plans before. I wasn’t even attracted to New York and this big American dream. But once I started spending time here, I just fell in love.”
Her advice for future interns?
Echoing her mother’s wisdom, Léa’s advice is simple: “Do it. Come to the U.S. and do an internship. It’s going to be great.”
Léa’s year with InterExchange has concluded, but her journey with her host company continues—she’s transferring to their Montreal office in January to keep growing her skills in sustainability across North America. She and her friends even entered the lottery for the Chicago Marathon.
Whether you’re looking to advance your career, challenge yourself in unexpected ways, or find your people 5,000 miles from home, an exchange experience offers the chance to build something meaningful—professionally and personally. Your next starting line awaits!
