You say tomato...

  

You can't find tomatoes like these in Edinburgh or Minnesota. 

 That's right, I've moved yet again.

 

Ever since June, I haven't managed to stay in one place for more than a fortnight. Iceland to Scotland to Germany to Scotland to The Lake District to Scotland to Minnesota to New York City to Minnesota and now to....

 

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI! 

 I often get asked, "Why Missouri?" Sometimes in language more colorful than this produce.

 The answer: grad school. It's been less than two months since I graduated college, yet I'm already in grad school. It's exhausting just thinking about it, but that's what coffee is for. I'll be needing a lot of it for my latest academic endeavor, journalism.

 It seems obvious now, but it took me until my second to last semester of undergrad to realize that the one constant in my college career was journalism. I may not have stayed in the same country, but I wrote on every paper or blog that they would let me put my byline on, so it was time to make it professional. Hence I'm currently down in Columbia getting a master's in magazines at University of Missouri (called Mizzou fondly or cult-like depending on how you see it.)

I know I'll fit in here because Mizzou's colors are black and "MU Gold" or what I like to refer to (and wear too much of) as mustard.

  

I haven't felt this enthusiastic about something in awhile and not just because it means I'm staying in the same spot for two years as opposed to my two week habit. 

Obviously, this means this blog will change a bit. I suppose it can no longer be considered a "travel blog" and I might have to retire the beloved Loch Tess moniker since I'm nowhere near a loch, let alone a lake right now.

 

I'm still working on another pun. So far my best is "In the Boonies," but that won't help me make friends in Missourah (by the way, according to my new friend from St. Louis, no one actually says Missourah except people who aren't from it. Therefore, I will only use it ironically. I'm a hipster after all.)

 

  As for the blog's direction, it's now more of a life style blog, although I hesitate to use that term because I'm not planning to post on how to raise children or can things. Expect what it's like to live in CoMo (still not sure if I can get behind this acronym), traveling (I've already been to the State Fair!), and whatever else I can scrounge up between reporting real news. You can read my first story as a real newswoman here.

My fellow j-school classmate, Gwen, sporting her farmers' market find.

These photos are from the Columbia Farmers' Market, which is thus far my favorite thing about the city. If heirloom tomatoes had a lineage, I'd join. Sorry, terrible tomato joke.  Turns out the farmers are actually better at marketing: