The Pilot

When I returned back to Marist College in Poughkeepsie after a month of winter vacation and four months of European exploration, I was overwhelmed with the amount of social media activity that I had been missing out on.  It seemed to me that all of these social media tools had amplified overnight.  Actively using Twitter, Wiki, and LinkedIn? Creating my very own blog?  I felt inclined to dig into the trend that is such a prominent aspect of my desired career field, public relations.

Although I had created all of these accounts previous to my arrival in Florence, Italy in September, I did not utilize them because I didn't realize their power or significance.  During my first Public Relations class, Professor Van Dyke demonstrated the exciting social media world by encouraging all of us to create accounts and explore the possibilities.  Great, here come the assignments... and as a self-proclaimed tech-disabled student, I did not have any interest in this foreign world.  I gave my Linked-In a facelift, started to become more active on Twitter, and finally began to download some applications on the Blackberry that Mom forced me to upgrade to over the winter break. (By the way, I've come to discover that it truly is a "crackberry")

Thanks to that extra push from my tech-savvy professor, I have discovered a new world that I love that also loves me back.  Once I began investigating multiple online social media tools, I couldn't stop.  Wiki questions turned into RSS Feed searches, which lead to a how-to blogging inspection.  The social media world is viral in every sense of the word; all tools are intertwined and generate a thirst to learn more.  Was I actually enjoying this research that I voluntarily took part in? Absolutely.  This experience only further enhanced my confidence in recognizing that I'm definitely going into a career field that I'm passionate about. PUBLIC  RELATIONS AND SOCIAL MEDIA ARE SO EXCITING!

I constructed this blog at the beginning of the semester during my intro to social media binge.  The design part was fun; it was the writing part that started to feel like a school assignment.  So I put it off, and then procrastinated a bit, and then waited so more.  I composed this blog to have my own space in the social media world, so perspective employers could see the work that I was doing. and understand that I was competent with the tools.  Yes, these are some rewarding aspects of having a blog, but these aren't enough to initiate a passion to write.  I thought my blog needed some sort of theme or structure in order to be special or newsworthy in the eyes of an employer. I struggled to push myself to produce something because I could not distinguish a focus area.  But what I didn't realize, until I attended Chris Dessi's social media session at Marist on Friday, is that I'M NEWSWORTHY!

That's right, me.  I'm interesting, I'm creative, and any public relations organization would be lucky to have me.  So why not write about me, the things that interest me, the people who have helped, inspired, and guided me, and the things that I aspire for.  Chris Dessi stressed in his session the importance of being fearless.  This virtue will cause you to stand out among a crowd by reaching out to others, expressing strong, intelligent opinions, and presenting new ideas based on personal experiences.  Isn't it an amazing concept, that I could make new connections or land an internship from this blog by just being myself?  That is what I intend to do here, so I'd like to offer a big thanks to Professor Van Dyke for my first push into social media, and to Chris Dessi for inspiring my second push into this rewarding blog.

I'm sure to many, the title of my blog may be utterly confusing, but it makes perfect sense to me.  I'm in my junior year at Marist College, located in Poughkeepsie, New York.  And although I currently reside in Po-town, my heart, soul, and blood belong to Tuscania, Italia.  Both places have changed me for the better.  Both places have helped me to discover who I am, and who I want to become.  Both places are beautiful, in very different ways.  I've changed the book title or saying "Under the Tuscan Sun"  to fit my magnificent, transitional journey to life in the real world.  Through this blog, I tell all about clever stories from my past, unique occurrences in my present, and exciting plans for my future.

I'm so excited to get started, and hope you are too! Stay tuned!