Starting Friday, June 26th 2009 my life changed dramatically. I left my job at Duke Energy, I spent a few weeks in western North Carolina at Lake Santeetlah with Jane and her family, I packed up, said goodbye, drove for a month across the US and Canada with my fianceé and @serdmanczyk (Erby), moved to a new city, started graduate school… the list of changes goes on and on. I greatly miss my friends and family back home while the sheer number of new and exciting experiences have integrated me into a new environment with a rapid pace. I’m greatly appreciative of all the fantastic people I’ve met in Vancouver that have helped me feel at home so quickly.

With all that being said, it is time for me to start telling the story of this summer. Specifically the story of my move to Vancouver, British Columbia, apparently a fairly uncommon move as many here tell me, “they’ve never met someone from North Carolina”. I’m a little hard to peg down because for some unexplainable reason, my accent is not of my homeland. And its not that I don’t even have the extreme NASCAR fan kind of southern accent, I just possess a neutral pronunciation of most words. Last Friday at Koerner’s Pub on campus, one guy tried to guess where I’m from and said, “Fargo, North Dakota”. I’ll take that as a compliment, I guess…

Kevin and Jane finish loading the car on the morning of our departure

My applications to graduate school started last September. As they started to pile up, I had a dream that all the application deadlines were forgotten and took it as a sign that my unconscious wanted me to get busy. My top choice was UBC followed closely by UT-Austin and Stanford with MIT and UCSD leading up the “Not sure I’d want to live there but they are good schools” category. My experience working for a utility convinced me of the importance of clean energy research and these schools all had opportunities in those areas. I did well enough on the GRE for not studying but knowing that UBC didn’t really look at the GRE score I didn’t take it over. Somehow I still got into Stanford and MIT.

After a visit to UBC in March the time-line was set. I was going there. The school was great, the lab was fantastic, the city was gorgeous. Opportunities like the Olympics were just icing on the cake, an afterthought, a big bonus. One of the primary reasons was that grad school in Canada makes financial sense. In my opinion, education doesn’t lead to freedom if it ties you down with crushing debt (i.e. $60,000/year for Stanford) and I can get by here in BC without taking out any loans. I felt more than ever that the US financial model and educational model was reaching its logical conclusion. An ending being played out today through an outdated monetary system and growing social pressure on a status quo that has satisfied those in power.

Every stage of the plan worked out fantastically thanks to help from my Mom and Dad, Jane and others. Everything was packed up and ready to go before heading into downtown Salisbury for a goodbye dinner with my parents and Jane’s parents. We left the next morning from Jane’s town home and Erby met us there. I felt bad taking Jane away from her friends but at the same time, Jane was ready for a new experience as well.

the original pancake house

We drove down to South Charlotte for a final visit to the Original Pancake House, the place I used to take Jane for Saturday morning breakfasts when we first started dating. Observational Note: could have stopped at an OPH in almost every state along the way… which one was the Original Original Pancake House… I don’t know.

Kevin and Jane say goodbye

After bidding Jane’s best ever roommate Kevin adieu, filling the car up with liquid fossils and getting a car phone charger for Erby, we hit the road on I-77 through South Carolina, catching I-26W up to Asheville and then I-40 out to Sylva, NC through Cullowhee, NC next to Western Carolina University for a visit to the ancient Judaculla Rock. I was really disappointed in the rock, I expected more distinct carvings but the acid rain and weathering had worn it down.

Judaculla Rock

According to Cherokee legend, the markings on the rock were created by Judaculla, a slant-eyed giant who dominated the mountains in years long past. He was the “Great Lord of the hunt,” a powerful being who could leap from one mountain to another, and even control the weather. They believed the rock not only marked his territory, but even bore his 7-fingered handprint, since he once used the rock to steady himself from a fall.

crossing into tennessee

we found this on the way to Nashville

Back on I-40 we crossed over into Tennessee, catching some rain through Knoxville and eventually arriving in Nashville late that night to meet up with Chris Lugo our first CouchSurfing host. Chris ran for Senate with the Green Party in Tennessee and was a really cool guy to stay with for a few nights. Famished, we drove around Nashville and found a great little restaurant called Tazza which served massive portions that satiated our desperate hunger. Wearily we returned to Chris’ house near Belmont University and were surprised at the gaudy well lit buildings on the campus there. We needed some sleep because tomorrow was our chance to explore Nashville.

Nashville was kind of abandoned for a Wednesday night

View Larger Map