[Carol-Ann]  We made it to Durham!  It was a long couple of days, but after a few wrong turns (one that forced us to re-route completely) and lots of night driving, we arrived in Durham and got the keys to our new place.  It feels good to have landed, and over the past week we've been running all over trying to find furniture and get ourselves stocked up with supplies before my program starts.  We have also been having fun exploring of the local cuisine!  One of our first nights here we found an incredible french restaurant.  The meal started with homemade blueberry-vodka cocktails and fresh bread that I ate so quickly, they brought out a second basket!  Ethan was brave enough to get the house special, which was an entire roasted bass, head and all.  It took about 30 minutes to cook, but was well worth the wait!  It also took some effort to successfully peel off the skin and get to the meat underneath, but the fish itself was flaky, moist, like butter.  It was quite an experience!  We even took a few pictures:

Buying furniture through Craigslist is a great way to get to know an area.  While trying to find different houses, we have been so lost, so confused, and have ended up in some interesting neighborhoods and cities.  Hillsborough is a small, historic town just 20 minutes from Durham, and I drove out there one afternoon to pick up a dresser.  Now when I say historic, it is very different from anything I have experienced in Oregon.  As you drive into this little town, there are signs everywhere that have dates, names of the people who lived or worked in the building and historical significance.  Many of the signs say that a particular person "was born 1500 feet west, worked in this building, died 200 feet to the east, and is buried 1 block north" - no joke.  From any given corner, you can trace the entire steps of someone's life - born, lived, died, buried.  Along with the historical interest, Hillsborough is a very cute town with fun art galleries and a chocolate factory that infuses their truffles with lavendar, mushroom oil, and other curious things.

Another good thing about getting stuff on Craigslist is that you get to meet lots of local folks.  Now, we've sold and bought stuff through Craigslist in Eugene, and the conversation with the other party usually lasts around 5 minutes - just long enough to say hello, load the merchandise and pay.  Not so here.  Nearly every time we've gone to pick something up at someone's house, a 20-minute errand turns into a 2-hour visit.  We're always invited in and given a tour of the rest of their house, along with a few stories about the area and several dozen tips about good restaurants, shopping centers and coffee shops.  Such a difference from what we're used to, and we're enjoying this taste of local culture!  One of the tips we got landed us at Cafe Driade, a very Eugene-esque coffee shop in Chapel Hill (near Durham), with about 20 outdoor tables on a garden-like patio area.  Very fun - I'm sure I'll be back to study there in the coming weeks!

front of our duplex

screened porch

 We are pretty settled into our duplex here, and although it's very different from the house we left in Eugene, it's already feeling more homey and comfortable.  When looking for places to live, we decided to go for a lower cost of rent, but still found a spot close to campus and big enough for Ethan to have a home office.  Needless to say, we did sacrifice some things for the price.  For example, there are two drawers in the kitchen (only 2 - think of all the drawers you usually use in a kitchen) and both of them are blocked by appliances - the dishwasher has to be open to use one drawer, and the fridge completely blocks the second one.  So, we're making really good use of the abundance of shelving that this place has, haha.  There is one bathroom, and it's small but certainly adequate - the only catch is that there are no electrical outlets.  I had to set up a station in my study room in order to have a place where I can blow dry my hair!  And we got Ethan a rechargeable razor so he can still use it in the bathroom.  What we love about the place is that I'm only a 1/2 mile from Duke's campus, we're on a quiet street, the A/C works amazingly well (which is an absolute must during these hot months), Ethan has his own office that's on one side of the house, the wood floors, and we have a super cool screened in porch (also a must when you get the equivalent of one mosquito bite per minute that you are outside).

Ethan's office, Reya likes to hang out with him

living room

My program starts next week!  I'm excited, but also trying to enjoy these last few days before life gets crazy again.  We'll be back with pics of the Duke campus and more stories - Ethan has some good stuff to share about the insane road system!