Some say you can't go home again. Brenna Daugherty would beg to differ.

The 26-year-old Center native enjoyed her years at Concordia College in Minnesota, and loved Boston, where she attended Harvard. Still, she couldn't be happier to be back in North Dakota.

Boston may have the Red Sox, but Burleigh County has prime pheasant hunting.

The East Coast has extensive public transportation; North Dakota doesn't need it.

New England has 17th century architecture, Bismarck has affordable housing.

Daugherty and her husband, Jon Fleischer, a Mandan native - the two met when Fleischer pulled up a seat next to Daugherty in an ancient Greek class at Concordia - moved back to Bismarck last summer. Some were surprised the two chose to return to relatively small-town life.

"People kept saying, 'Wow, you came back!'" she says.

But why not? There are jobs here, and the commute to work went from an hour to five minutes. Their families are close by, and the hustle and bustle of the city is easy to leave behind.

"(There's) no rush-hour traffic or navigating impossibly crowded city squares," Daugherty says. "It's easy to be content with life in North Dakota."

Daugherty originally chose Concordia for the small class sizes and close faculty-student relationships. Religion classes are required at Concordia; after taking her first, Daugherty says she was hooked. She went on to get a master's degree in theological studies from Harvard Divinity School.

Here in Bismarck, Daugherty gets her fill of culture and mental stimulation in her job with the North Dakota Humanities Council, where she is the program and resource coordinator.

"There's a really vibrant intellectual community in Bismarck," she says. "I'm blessed in my job because I have exposure to that."