Dear Globetrotters,

Last month marked the beginning of a super intense summer of camps, and what a beginning it was :) The contrast between a camp in ice cold Greenland and then sunny Italy was really fun to experience. Next up is our mega-camp in Belgium in 9 days with more than 250 people which is going to be something completely different, again.

Speaking of, I better get back to the spreadsheets and emails for that camp, so I'll leave you with the newsletter for now. Hope you enjoy it! :)

Have a fantastic day,

When Jennifer first arrived in Kampala she had no hopes of training BJJ since nobody knows about it there. Instead she started out by joining the local Taekwondo school. Then one day something happened.

“I was doing Taekwondo and trying to explain what BJJ was and the 6th degree blackbelt instructor was like: show me! So I did!! " Jennifer tells and continues to explain how what started out as mere curiosity from the Taekwondo master quickly turned into a BJJ craze.

“He was hooked and every day would ask to learn something new. Soon he had me lead warm-ups for TKD practice with some of the BJJ moves, then asked if I could show some basics so the kids could learn some self defense. One thing led to another and now we've got two weekly practices with upwards of 40 people attending”

But being a BJJ enthusiast with a white belt on her way to blue belt, and with little teaching experience, she was hoping for others to join her efforts. Luckily, a couple of people did exactly that.

“The really cool thing is that this has turned into a group effort. So now a Japanese businessman in town who is a Judo expert is teaching throws and sweeps, and a Japanese internationally ranked wrestler will start helping teach takedowns and weight distribution. There's even a professional Ugandan break-dancer who is helping people tone their core and getting the community involved so we can put on a self-defense series in August.”

In the day-to-day training Jennifer still manages her best as a white belt, and is therefore reaching out to the BJJ community inviting anyone to join them and teach.

“What I'd really love though is if someone with some REAL BJJ expertise could come out and help train people, including me! I live very close to the gym, and would be happy to provide food/lodging, but wouldn't be able to help bring anyone out... they'd have to do that part on their own. But Uganda is AMAZING, with lush rolling green hills, incredible wildlife, great people, tons of fruits/veggies, and lots of opportunity. If someone were looking for something exotic to try, Uganda is the place to find it.”

That’s an open invitation to the Globetrotters community right there!

Below is the European Backpacker Index for 2016. It's basically list of the cheapest places to travel to in Europe. The data compilation is based on hotel and hostel prices, so before you book anything, make sure you check if there's an awesome person that will provide you with a place to sleep for free. If you haven't found out about this thing called "mat surfing", here's a revelation for you:

Each month we include some of the fantastic mat surfing offers that we get from matsurfing.org. So make sure you look further down in this newsletter, and check out some of the openings. This month we include three matsurfing destinations that are on the top 10 cheapest countries on the list. Now you only need to decide where to go...

1 – Kiev, Ukraine (cheapest)
2 – Bucharest, Romania
3 – Krakow, Poland
4 – Sofia, Bulgaria
5 – Belgrade, Serbia
6 – Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
7 – Budapest, Hungary
8 – Český Krumlov, Czech Republic
9 – Warsaw, Poland
10 – Zagreb, Croatia
11 – Vilnius, Lithuania
12 – Riga, Latvia
13 – Istanbul, Turkey
14 – Saint Petersburg, Russia
15 – Bratislava, Slovakia
16 – Split, Croatia
17 – Prague, Czech Republic
18 – Santorini, Greece
19 – Moscow, Russia
20 – Ljubljana, Slovenia
21 – Tallinn, Estonia
22 – Tenerife, Spain
23 – Lisbon, Portugal
24 – Valletta, Malta
25 – Athens, Greece

The data comes from this awesome site, where you can also read more about each destination. Enjoy your travel!

We believe you...every single picture we see from Greenland is stunning. How did your gym come into existence in the first place, and what kind of people train there?
I always wanted to spread the BJJ gospel in Greenland. No one had ever done it before and no one knew what BJJ was. So I started from complete scratch and started up Inuit Martial Arts.

Most of the people that train here are college students, but we also have some local guys with regular jobs. The first blue belt we received in the club is a licensed hunter ;)

They all seem to like the sport and the knowledge of defending themselves. Also it’s great cardiac training.

But I still see a good future! The interest is slowly growing. It’s all about patience and I’m here in Greenland to stay, so I’m not gonna go anywhere.

Does that mean you have a national tournament in Greenland :-)?
No, but I hope we will get one in the future as BJJ is already spreading in Greenland ;)

Thank you for your time ☺

Host: Serbu Madalina Cristina
Contact email: madalina.serbu@gmail.com
Can host: 1

The host: I am a bjj practitioner for 2 years with small pauses. I

Host: Yulian Andonov
Contact email: andonov89@mail.bg
Can accommodate: 1 extra bed and floor

The host: I am a blue belt and I enjoy gi and no-gi almost equally
but prefer no-gi :) I have traveled and trained in various academies in Eastern
Europe and try to complete and visit seminars often.

local clubs and that will be also one of the options for each and everyone of you. Split is also very good for outdoor training, running, swimming, whatever you prefer.accommodation you've ever seen, but, it's more than ok.