North Carolina, whatcha think? :)?

My boyfriend are wanting to move out of Ohio within the next year or so. He works with computers and I will be "starting" college probably to be a nutritionist, I'm 23 and have only taken a couple cles. We've been thinking about North Carolina, I've never been there but have heard very good things. I've looked at a couple schools there, I'm looking for a community college, good but cheap :). One was Eastern Carolina University. We're going to try to take a few weekend trips around to see what we like but I really don't even know where to start. We want to be within driving distance of the ocean(hour or 2) and want our house to have a bit of space, not right in the middle of a city. Any suggestions of cool cities or schools to check out in NC would be great!