When my family moved from Japan, we moved to Havelock, North Carolina. When we moved to Japan from California, there was very little culture shock, it was just different and we adapted. Moving from Japan to North Carolina was a different story. It's a different pace, a different style, a different world than a lot of the other places I've been. When I went to college in Chapel Hill, I swore I'd never return to Havelock, I hated it that much. As I got older, I grew to respect the pace, the quiet, the calm, and the lives of people on coastal North Carolina. Now that I'm married, we go back to visit my husband's family, and there is a new beauty to it in my eyes that wasn't there when I lived there. Something about the tall pines, the humidity, the lush green foliage, and the undercurrent of beach culture makes my stays there special.