panjandrum

Really? I've always heard junior year is the hardest. Applying for college will be stressful, though, especially as I can't narrow it down and currently have 14 in mind! Where are you applying, jspnshr?

Man, school used to be so easy... both sophomore and freshman year I got a 4.0 and did maybe 3 hours of homework a week, but Junior year is freaking INSANE. Between physics, ap english composition, ap us history, math anlysis, german, drama, and model united nations, I have about 4 hours of homework a night. Not so much written work, although there is a lot of that, but studying for tests. Oh, and when I don't have schoolwork to do, I can just study for the PSAT, the SAT, the ACT, SAT2s, AP exams, placement tests, terra nova... eesh. Madness! I guess it's better than being bored, though, eh?

Well, at my old school, it went... white > yellow > orange > purple > blue > green > brown (3d, 2nd, and 1st degrees) > black (1st - 10th degrees) But there were 3 red stripes on each belt for each group of techniques you were supposed to learn. Like, you would learn a form and do a mini-test on it at the end of a class and then you would get a red stripe sewn on. Once you got all 3 stripes and passed your physical test (with x number of pushups, pullups, situps, seconds of spriting, jumping jacks, mountain climbers...) and did a review session, you'd be ready to test. It really appealed to my OCD and love of organization.

In part of my school's creed that we would sometimes recite at the end of lessons we would say, "I demand and expect more from myself than anyone can possibly imagine" and I think that's a good policy to take in martial arts training. Only by pushing yourself both mentally and physically can you really achieve.

Wow, thanks for all the warm welcomes, everyone! I don't actually speak German fluently as I've only been in the class about a month, but I understand a bit. It's a fun language. Also, I need to update my original post as I just discovered that there is also a tae kwon do class conducted at the youth center, and that might be more up my alley. I used to make fun of people who did tae kwon do because the people I saw at tournaments looked so silly, but maybe it'll be fun. I shall see!

Hi everyone. My name's Erin and I live in Germany... I'm American, though -- my parents are in the United States Air Force and we've been stationed here for about a year. Today was my first day of martial arts class since we moved here. In New Mexico, where we were stationed before, I went to a wonderful Kenpo studio (and even posted on here a bit), but I couldn't find a single class until recently. I'm now enrolled in an aikido class, which is pretty interesting. It's not as fun and doesn't seem to emphasize physical fitness as karate did, but it's better than nothing and I'm definitely in need of some ground training. It's way way smaller than my old school and takes place in a gymnasium rather than a proper school and doesn't have belts or forms or competitions or uniforms or organization/structure or any of the things I really enjoyed about karate, but it's at least an outlet. And anyway, I only have to do it for 2 more years, until I graduate and go to college!