Hello all! My name is Joshua Hintzen. I am 20 years old, and I live in Chesapeake, V.A.
I recently decided to begin practicing a martial art, a sword based martial art. I pondered my options until I remembered about an old medieval manual written in german used to teach the longsword that I had seen in one of my random research projects. I thought to myself, 'Hey, thats perfect! I've always been intrested in knights and such, and with my german classes, I bet I could translate what the manual says close enought to use it!' I set out to find as much information as I could and I found the ARMA website.
I've already learned many things since finding the site, like for instance, my german sucks and I would not have been able to tranlate even a little of the fechtbucher. I also had some things confirmed that I had believed for some time, like how plate armour didn't weigh 200 pounds, and how swords weren't 30 pound blunt lengths of iron used for beating.
I haven't actually joined the ARMA yet, however I have begun my training using some of the publicly available manuals on the site. I contacted a local study group in V.A. Beach to meet some current students and seek to join them, but I have yet to receive a reply from them. I am truly looking forward to learning all I can!

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