As luck would have it, I was left to cover senior call on the last day of residency. So by the time I bid farewell to my friends at work on Friday, I had little time to recover before Melody’s movers arrived the next morning. The three husky men emptied our home in under 3 hours, giving us just enough time to clean the place before embarking on our road trip. We had HK Eatery for lunch, but our epic last meal left me in a food coma. I had to stop by a roadside Dunkin Donuts for a large iced coffee, which kept me wired for the remainder of the trip, even after Melody took over the wheel. We entered Virginia late in the evening, where thunderstorms had knocked out the electrical grid, making the drive to our friend’s house rather challenging. We were so exhausted that we crashed in their basement for the night with their toddler and golden retriever. On Sunday, we awoke to a leisurely brunch with them before resuming our drive down. Upon arrival in Durham, we picked up keys from my co-fellow, tossed our luggage into my new pad, then headed back out to buy some essentials at Target and Li Ming’s – the sole Asian market in the area. We spent the next few days settling in – getting the internet hooked up, setting up the new mattress, getting my Duke ID & parking, and even passing the written exam for my NC driver’s license. We also got some shopping done, including nearby Tanger Outlets, Ross, and Dollar Tree, where I could actually afford some household goods given my meager fellowship salary. The moving pod arrived a day before July 4th, giving us time to unload our stuff and unpack. The sizzling heat wave had us working up a sweat, relieved only with some cold Southern sweet tea. We spent Independence Day recovering, meeting some friends over Sichuanese food and froyo. We heard fireworks ignite outside as we fought our final battle aboard the Normandy, defeating Cerberus and the Illusive Man, and saving humanity once again from the Reapers. Although the game is over, I realized that my real adventure in North Carolina was just about to begin.