It's officially today.

I've said my goodbyes.

I've packed my bags, sort of.

and it all continues to feel surreal. so surreal that I can't help but wonder if reality will ever start kicking in again.

Here's the thing. I promise ahead of time not to be one of those obnoxious travel bloggers who pretend to know somethings just because their surroundings are out of the ordinary. I promise to avoid long obnoxious posts about details that nobody but my mother cares to hear. (If you, like my mother, have some desire to hear the details, post your email below because this is not the place for intricacies). "You better blog when you go," and I will. But I refuse to fill every post to the brim. I refuse to suddenly believe my thoughts are intriguing only because I live in a different country, no matter where I am I'm simply me; and I promise to post more pictures than words, except where necessary, of course. People keep asking me how I'm going to handle the change, how I'm going to deal with culture shock, and I just keep telling myself that what is foreign to one man is home to another. And suddenly everywhere feels like home.