Ryo Tonda from Japan -2012 admission

I stayed in Laos for two weeks to join the road construction internship program in Obayashi-Obayashi Road Joint Venture in September.
The project is about the improvement of national road in Laos. I learned a lot about one of the processes of it, paving the road.
I would like to introduce my valuable experience of the internship while focusing on two points: the challenges of working abroad and knowledge of civil engineering.

Difficulties are inevitable when we work abroad because of the dissonance between working conditions in Japan and those in other countries.

First of all, road conditions are dangerous especially in developing countries. In Laos some staff members gave me a lift to work sites and the office. There were holes and cracks on the road, and they avoided them skillfully. What was surprising is that little children rode motorcycles. What is more, cars, including heavy trucks passed them at high speed. Such road conditions reminded me of Mario Kart.

Secondly, developing counties are subject to poor sanitary conditions. Sometimes people suffer from illnesses. In my case, I suffered from food poisoning from fish in Laos. I learned the fact that food safety is high in Japan from my own experience very well.

Despite of such danger, lack of hygiene and other troubles, staff members work day after day. I was able to realize that civil engineers are so cool.

“Thinking is more interesting than knowing, but less interesting than looking” said Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a famous German writer and statesman.

I would like to restate this in a different way. “Study civil engineering! Also do a civil engineering internship and look at many things! Very interesting!”
Now I study civil engineering in Kyoto University. “Soil mechanics” is one of the major subjects which we learn. It describes the behavior of soil. Some of Soil mechanics lectures provided us the knowledge of “soil compaction”, which simply means the method of increasing the density of soil.
In the internship, I observed the processes of paving. One of them was “asphalt compaction”, which is the process of pressing the asphalt mix by rollers.
Not until this time did I appreciate the importance of the concept of “compaction.”

Looking at the actual construction processes in Laos with using the knowledge acquired in the lectures in Kyoto University really motivated my study. I hope that I will eventually acquire a good knowledge of civil engineering, albeit slowly and gradually.

The memories of the internship are great assets to me. I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Obayashi-Obayashi Road Joint Venture, professors and staff members involved with the internship.

Finally I would like to conclude this blog by introducing everyone, especially my juniors to this Goethe’s phrase: Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.