Vienna, Austria RGV

Orlando Neto and I

A summary of a week in Austria. I shaved my beard and started growing it again.  I met some cool young travelers at my hostel. I trained at Roger Gracie Vienna. I met some cool Globetrotters that shared stories of the Globetrotter Camps.  I ate some Schnitzel, drank some beer and attempted speaking German.

Walking back from the gym to my lodging is one of my favorite parts about traveling.

I trained at Roger Gracie Vienna with Orlando Neto.  I trained six times there. We went over some techniques from sleeve grip from butterfly/sitting guard to a couple combinations. i.e arm bar, turnover. On another day we drilled a Fireman’s carry take down. Then open mat the last three sessions.  The people there were really friendly, like most gyms. I enjoyed the diverse culture of the city, it showed very much in the gyms demographic.  There were Germans, Italians, Brazilians, Croatians, South Africans, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and I probably left out a few. Most classes that were taught by Orlando were in English. I had a really good vibe from the gym. 

Me, Tina and Eda on a ferris wheel in Prater.

I stayed at the Meininger hotel on Rembrandt street. It was a clean, modern hostel with wifi everywhere in the hotel. As a normal European hostel experience you meet many young travelers solo or in pairs. You exchange info and back stories. Solo travelers tend to flock together and go out together. That’s one of the best parts about traveling solo in Europe, there’s always people to go out with.  There was Tina, a German on holiday, Chase, a Canadian doing Erasmus in France, Elie, a Frenchman traveling around Europe, Michelle, a Penn college student coming back from birthright from Israel and many more people.  My life seems to gravitate towards being around a motley crew people.  Or do I gravitate towards being around several different types of people that have distinct backgrounds than my own? 

It’s customary to take pictures in your Globetrotter Gis. (Not sure if that’s true.)

Repping hard at the Dinner table.

I met Ähn and Karla, German BJJ Globetrotter veterans, at the open mat at the gym. They showed me around parts of Vienna.  We had several conversations about Jiu Jitsu. I rarely have these types of conversations outside of training, it was very enjoyable.  They shared stories of all the camps they attended and funny stories that happened during the camps.  I’ve never been to a Globetrotter camp. After meeting these two it gives me a great impression of the camp’s attendees.  I hope the rest of the globetrotters I meet love to have fun, eat, and train. I can’t wait until the Copenhagen Camp.

A good part of being in the military that was easy was not really worrying how you style your hair. There were  hair regulations and dress codes.  It was easy to adhere to those rules. I’m out of the Navy now, traveling the world, unemployed with no hair regulations. I’ve had the same hair cut for the last four years and I was not allowed to grow a beard except when I was on Leave.  I grew it for two and half months. No one would really understand this unless you were a male in the American Military.  I decided to start over and cut it all off again.  I’m searching for a balance.

Prater in Vienna, Austria