Olá Amigos,

my name is Paul Schuwald, I am 25 years old and I am from Germany. I decided to go on a journey to Brazil to practice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and there is no better place for this than in Rio de Janeiro. Everything started right here in the heat of Rio, when Carlos and Hélio Gracie invented the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu we know today, which came from Japan in its original form and can be traced back to the Samurai.
When I arrived my first step was to find a comfortable home for me to live, what turned out to be more dificult than I thought. The first two weeks I lived in the Terrasse Hostel in Ipanema, where I met a lot of travelers from all over the world and got to know the sympathetic owner of the Hostel Mourra, who I still visit from time to time for a nice chat at the Hostel. Since then I moved four times and now after 5 Month of searching I finally found a beautiful apartment in Santa Teresa, which I share with my lovely girlfriend Chell.
At my second day in Rio I went to the Academia Nova Geração to get started with my beloved Jiu-Jitsu Training right away. The Academia is a beautiful place to train for everybody who loves Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai Boxing or the so called Vale Tudo Fighting (Freefight). The people in the Academia are very friendly and welcoming, its like a big family who is addicted to all kinds of Martial Arts and of course mainly to Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
I am training Jiu-Jitsu every day and will do this hopefully until the end of my days because Jiu-Jitsu is my passion that keeps my mind sharp, makes me calm and helps me to handle difficulties in life.
If you always had a dream, I recommend to jump in the cold water and get started, theres nothing to be afraid of, just the World in its beauty, waiting to be discoverd.
I Wish you the best and thank you for visiting my site
Cheers Paul
P.S. I hope to see you in Rio