Tomasz and Ana were my hosts during my stay in Lublin, Poland. Over the weekend we visited a concentration camp and got in a lot of great Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training it at the local BJJ clubs, Akademia Dragon and Copacabana.

Tomasz is a former professional MMA fighter and a purple belt in BJJ.

Pawel Kozlowski is a decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brown belt competitor with a professional MMA record of 4-0 and over 400 competitive BJJ matches under his belt. In this episode I sit down and ask him questions to gain perspective as to what it is like to fight MMA in a professional arena.

In this episode me and my Jiu Jitsu Globetrotter host Dave and his girlfriend take some LSD and sit down for a nice discussion about Psychedelics, Osho, Meaning, and BJJ. 

BJJ Globetrotters is an organization that enables those who share a passion for brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to train and meet other competitors anywhere in the world. On this 2 month long BJJ trip around Europe with nothing besides a backpack I have met some of the most incredible and generous people I have ever came across. Dave was hilarious, generous, and incredibly helpful and I look forward to seeing both him and all my hosts again on the mats one day.

In this episode I birefely talk a lot about the apparent differences i have noticed in the cultures of America and Western Europe. In America it feels as though there is not much of a safety net. This fact I think drives a lot of people to exist in a rather neurotic state always worrying in the back of their minds that they might fall thorugh the cracks of society. However this intense discomfort is what I believe drives America to be the light of the world for creativity. You can shine like a diamond in America.

In Germany and Western Europe in general the society does a lot to take care of you. There are a lot of social benefits and it feels as thought this produces a much healthier society. People are more lax about their approach towards life. Everyone worries to some extent but in the back of the minds of the european they know that at the very least they have the collective to fall back on. This eases much anxiety. However I believe the inherent comfort that this more socialist approach provides also forces you to sacrifice your own individuality to some extent. Much more so than in the states. This creates wonderfully nice and healthy people, but no one really stands out to the extend that individuals do in the United States.

In this episode I sit down with one of my hosts on my Backpacking Euro Jiu Jitsu GLobetrotter journey to talk about the differences betweeen american and german life. Steven is an American currently living in Germany. I was very curious to hear his insight on the differences in culture between america and Germany. We also talk about the American military and what could be done to improve.

On August 4th I flew to Paris to begin my backpacking Jiu-Jitsu Journey across Europe.