it seemed like she was running away from something

i disagree, i think that she wasn't running away, but that she wasn't sure how a mistress should act, so she did activities that she thought

...defined her as the mistress

but then why would she have chosen to move to a large city from Michigan? She didn't seem to know anyone or have a specific job in mind...

Maybe she was running from the general boredom of a place she's been all her life? That's why I'm in Columbus!

that's kinda what I was thinking.

Yeah, I think she kept chasing and investigating new topics because she needed to find herself and where she belonged.