Harp: Did you miss the city, or you were just enjoying nature and being in a smaller town?

Aleksandra: I’d say I’m a split personality in a way. I wilt, shrivel up, when I’m only immersed in an urban environment, and I start to get itchy and lonely when I’m only in the bush. I cannot be without one or the other.

Harp: I see. I see. OK, and then how, after this love affair with Vancouver and the beautiful city, did you end up on the East Coast?

Aleksandra: That was a love affair with a job. I really got a very interesting opportunity to work for the National Cancer Institute of Canada, and being that it’s a very large organization with lots of superbly interesting research projects, it was an offer I could not decline. Absolutely. So that, in and of itself, was enough to move me east.

Harp: OK. So you worked with the cancer research institute for a couple of years?

Aleksandra: It was about somewhere around 8 years. And it was a very steep learning curve.