We all know about flashy new actors in film debuts, and about the sick beats released in your new favorite artist’s debut album, but does being the new guy on the “blog” warrant any sort of fanfare? Blogging may not be quite as new as it once was, but there is always space for innovation and the educational opportunities of internet communities is growing every day. So do you think one can make a good virtual first impression? I’ll let you be the judge.
  
Greetings My Wonderful World readers and all geography-savvy people across the globe! My name is Mickey Radoiu and I’m the new public outreach intern (aka the social media person) at National Geographic for the spring semester of 2012. This past week since I arrived in the city has been a whirlwind of orientations and building tours intermixed with calm moments in front of the computer and times when it seemed like morning commutes were going to be the least of my worries here. You see, I like to call myself a “hybrid country-urban guy” by virtue of having grown up in scenic Staunton, Virginia, but born to parents who hailed from San Diego and Detroit and enjoyed taking me and my siblings on frequent day trips to DC. I enjoyed growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia just as much as I enjoyed fast-paced trips to cities like San Francisco and the District. I soon learned that actually living in the city is a whole different experience, without the comfort and convenience of rural life at home or readily-available dining hall food at school.

Speaking of school, I’m currently a senior geography major at Virginia
Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia–Go Hokies! Like most of the students
there, I’m very proud of my institution, both for the academics and the
strong sense of community that we affectionately refer to as the “Hokie
Nation.” Perhaps as a response to the tragic events of April 16th, 2007,
the foremost thing that I noticed about Tech when I arrived in 2008 was
the palpable sense of school spirit and the good-nature of people around
me there. I hope to bring a little bit of my community, as well as my
knowledge of geography, to the larger world and to my new workplace at
National Geographic.

 Being a geography major, I’m interested in a host of subjects and
hobbies in both my academic and personal lives. The study of physical
geography initially got me hooked on earth sciences. I’ve always loved
rocks and strata, and figuring out how land features got into their
present locations. That in turn led to a wide range of interests such as
geomorphology, meteorology, and remote sensing. If that wasn’t enough
to sate my curiosity, I took some liking to forestry and botany–growing
plants has been a passion of mine since an early age when I started a
vegetable garden in my backyard. These interests, supplemented by a
healthy enjoyment for nature photography and writing, served as the main
impetus for my applying to intern for National Geographic. I hope to
bide my time well here at NGS headquarters and learn as much as I can
about working for such a large and well-known organization, all while
contributing meaningfully to the diffusion of geographic knowledge to
the wider world. I’ve got some big shoes to fill, especially after
reading the captivating intro blogs from all the previous interns, but I
hope to carve my own little niche out of this program as I write to you
for the next few months.

Happy February and thanks for reading!

             -Mickey


*Note on the two photos above: One is of me standing in front of
Long’s Peak in Colorado during an extended hike in summer of 2010. The
other photo is of me holding my trusty chainsaw and a sample of wood
successfully cut from a pitch pine tree in the mountains of Virginia
during a research trip last fall.