And so it begins.

There are places that aren't here.

It's a simple, seemingly obvious statement. But I get so caught up in what's going on around me -- the news, sports, the drama, the 'buzz' -- and all that my mind remains focused on is the little nutshell that is Dedham, MA.

But there are places that aren't here. There are a seemingly infinite amount of little communities like Dedham. There are people who will live entire lifetimes without running into me. There are places with eons of tradition i'll never step foot in. There are experiences i've never dreamed of that i'll never learn from.

In a matter of hours, i'll be sitting (comfortably, i hope) in my room in the 'Kartause' in Gaming, Austria, a converted monastery that i will soon label as my "home" for the next four months. Yet as distant and magical a place that my imagination has drawn it up to be, i believe i will really find it too be much the same. It will look and feel 'different', but the fingerprints of a Father will be laced all throughout.

I have no clue what is to come. I have no clue what it is God plans to show me, to teach me, to reveal to me over these next four months. Am i excited? ...i think so. Nervous? nope. If anything, i'm strangely confident that these next few months will be some of the best i'll ever have.

I walk into this journey at an interesting time. Life is rolling by rather smoothly: no major problems weighing me down, a lovely girlfriend who i miss dearly, fantastic and blossoming friendships. but Christ has certainly been slowly drawing me along, waiting for me to take a step into the dark that i've been abstaining from taking for quite some time. All i can do in Austria is grow.

Stay classy, Dedham.

Adios America.
greg