00 : A New Adventure

Hi and Welcome!

I’m Ronald, a Civil Engineer all the way from Guyana! For those asking where or what is Guyana – well it’s a small country in the north of South America and surprisingly the only one in South America that speaks English. It is also considered a part of the Caribbean and we have a rich and diverse history and culture. The population is under 800,000 but the country is fairly big in terms of land area being about 1.6 times the area of England!. We have some stunning views and sites. You can take just a quick minute and check it out in this short video – I promise it'll be worth it! 

After the video you can contact me about where to stay  on your holiday to Guyana :D

BUT I’m talking to you today from Palermo, Italy which is thousands of miles from Guyana and it’s a lot more if you consider differences in culture and traditions.  

How did I get here and what I’m doing? Good questions.. 

To answer them lets go back a bit.  Here’s me in picture below: 

This is the image I use on most social media as an intro so why not do the same here. In the picture I had just finished my first half-marathon – The Great North Run in Newcastle and that’s why I’m smiling. I like to run –it helps to ease your mind and relieve stress, but this was one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. I remember just willing myself to the finish line and I also remember with one mile to go having nothing left but there were thousands of people along that last mile and random people were cheering me on telling me 'You can do it Ronald' (they saw my name on my race id on my tshirt) and somehow I dug deep and finished that race. I couldn’t get out of bed the next day but it was worth it. 

Even though it was difficult and physically drained me it was one of the best experiences – the atmosphere in the crowds – watching all of these people racing for people they loved and causes they believed in – its hard to describe how captivating it all was. I thought after that race: ‘that was fantastic but I’ll likely never run that distance again ..it was too hard!’ 

Of course this sentiment changed and...

A few years later I did it again. Why? Because I like challenges and solving problems – it’s why I became an engineer and I also must have a bit of crazy in me but if you really think about it, the best things are never easy and given to you on a platter. You work for them and when you do and you achieve it there is hardly a better feeling.  

After that race I met up with one of my professors from my time at Newcastle and he shortly after sent me a link to a new opportunity. A Research job with a PhD within the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship Network with a base at the University of Palermo in Italy. It wasn’t necessarily something I was looking for at that point but I was intrigued and when I checked out the vacancy, the topic grabbed my attention and I applied and now here we are  - I got the job and I moved to Italy and I’m at the beginning of what can definitely be described as a mental marathon! The next great challenge! 

It won’t be easy and there will be times where it’ll test the best of my nerves but these are the challenges that aspire us to great things and I know once I reach that next finish line it will all be worth it. 

But wait ....

I didn’t tell you what exactly is the PhD – but I’ll leave that for my next post!  

I can tell you this – its about getting better roads! And I’m sure that’s something we can all relate to wanting!

For now, I’ll leave you with my project title – SUstainable ROad MAnagement through Low cost techniques! 

We call it - SuRoMA! 

This blog will give you a glimpse into my project and my life as I navigate new experiences and try to solve some problems that I believe can help everyone! 

I invite you to join me on this adventure!  

Talk to you very soon! 

RR12