awakening from the blog silence...

...finally!

Whew! First of all, I would like to apologize for my silence the last month - it is utterly CRAZY to think about all that has happened in the last month, but even so...there is no excuse for my lack of bloggin'. So, please forgive me...please, please, please!

Second of all, you may have noticed that the blog has a bit of a new look. So allow me to introduce you to the NKOTB (new kids on the block, baby!...yeah, isn't it sad that you just knew what i was talking about when you read that acronym?! back in the day. *sigh* oh, jordan! ha. i digress.)...

1) I've added a new piece of functionality...take a look. Just over to the right. Scroll down and you'll find it under the somewhat creepy 'I'm watching you' heading. That's it...ClustrMaps. I can track visitor locations by country so as you so graciously stalk me, I can stalk you back. FUN, huh?! Yeah, super-cool.

In fact, it was my friend ClustrMaps that encouraged me to write an update post now, because she told me that nearly 170 people have visited my site in the last month and that was embarrassing because, well, I haven't written anything new! But, what she also informed me about is that there are people all over the world reading this blog. It looks like I have fans in (or perhaps people were unfortunate to stumble upon me in) the States (duh!), Czech Republic (again, duh!), Canada, Poland, UK, Australia, Germany, Brazil, India (what?!) Luxembourg (again, what?!), the Netherlands, Serbia (whoa!), Australia, Turkey (wow, awesome), Portugal, Spain and Austria. How cool is that?! Thanks to all of you for visiting 'zmena' and being so cool and other-worldly ;).

But, I am wondering where my peeps from France, Switzerland, Ireland, Kazakhstan (Borat?!), Africa, Nicaragua, etc. etc. are! Come on, guys - represent! You can click on the map and check it out too. Pretty dang cool, huh?!

2) Also gave the blog a new look and feel, but want to do something even more visually appealing. And, now that I have a mac (woot woot - best christmas present EVER!), I think I'll be able to whip something up - if nothing else, at least a new main image with embedded copy rather than the template's forced and ugly typeface. Hang with me.

That's it for now. I have loads of updates for you guys and I am VERY behind, but will work on the ol' holiday letter in the next week or so and hopefully get something out there for the world to see!

Along with that, I'll tell you about my MAD-CRAZY travel month of January...I just returned from 2.5 weeks of holiday in the States between Minnesota and Wisconsin on the 8th, celebrated my one-year anniversary in Prague on Saturday, and then hit the road for an offsite company retreat in Austria with our St. Christopher's partners from London. Phew. You thought it ended there, but it doesn't. Next week my travel pal, Lexy, comes to Prague and then we'll hit the tracks for the Kitzbuhel world cup. WOW. AMAZING...and we're both super-pumped. We'll return on Saturday night and she'll head to the States while I jump on a plane to Dublin, Ireland for the Hostelworld conference. Are you tired and maybe a little bit jealous from reading that?! I am definitely already tired, but super-excited for this month of work/fun travel.

Follow me here and I'll share the crazy travel stories with you all and try to get daily updates from the world cup next week! YAY!

Love,

me

when the snow flies...

...ahhh, one of my favorite times of the year (ski season!) is upon us! I absolutely live for and love this time of year...for so many reasons. Most of all, I love the energy and enthusiasm around the sport of ski racing.

The fans...the crisp mountain air...the love of the sport...it is all so incredible. I feel so incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to be over in Europe for a plethora of reasons...but one of those reasons is that I am able to experience these events that are so very near and dear to my heart, and that have been such a massively big part of my life.

This weekend's race in Soelden, Austria marked the '09-'10 season opener...a season I am super-enthused about, because I'll be heading to a few races over here. This is an open invite to all of my buds to come and join me...yes, that's right...this one is directed at you, Love, Greenleaf, Lex, Henn, Kevin, etc.

Here are a few pics of past world cup fun (Beaver Creek '07 and '08 and Garmisch '09) to get you in the mood. :)

megs and lex snow galore vail '07

megs rippin' the pow vail '07

henn and megs psst psst psst beaver creek village '07

henn, greenleaf, megs on a horse? beaver creek '08

henn and megs shred love vail '08

the masses garmisch sg cancelled garmisch '09

rad ferrari guy garmisch finish area garmisch '09

The thing I love about skiers is...well, that they probably have the best sense of humour I've ever seen. They are crazy and fun and I love being around them.
Best Michael Jackson tribute EVER!

But this is why I really love world cup ski racing (the speed, a beautifully carved turn, the energy and excitement, and so much more...):

So, there you have it. World cup '09-'10 is here , winter is upon us. And I am super-excited for what is to come. Let me know if you'd like to join me! You'll have a free place to stay in Praha and we'll have fab travel adventures beyond Praha!

Love,

me

euro sojourn #1 (+bonus MHTVs!) : garmisch+munich+vienna = beautifishimi!

So last week I got a lil' spur-of-the-moment travel itch and decided to jump on a train and head to garmisch-partenkirchen (an aside: the latter part of this town's name is such a fun word to say...you should try it...SO german; me likey) via innsbruck, austria and then onward and upward from there to munchen for a tiny-lil' side trip before hoppin' over to wein, austria to complete mission: visit-the-czech-consulate-and-drop-off-the-visa-app.

The trip was fanmazing ("fantastic" and "amazing" combined - wahoo!) to say the least. Needless to say, I was nearly peeing my pants with excitement for the lil' sojourn, as this is one of the major perks of living in Europe. It's not "hey, I think I'll drive home to Wisconsin this weekend last minute" (as lovely as that really is, family!)...it's "hey, I think I'll hop a train and head over to Germany, and then onward to Austria from there!" Two simple, but very poignant words: FREAKING COOL.

So, yeah, the trip worked like this:

Leg 1 - chill in sleeping car to myself (rock!) and travel overnight from prague to innsbruck, austria - arrive 2:30 am (much to my surprise)


MHTV#5 fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants...european sojourn#1 from megan harrod on Vimeo.

(VIDEO NOTE: When you see the story below, you may think that my statements about there being no homeless people in Germany was unqualified...but I wasn't in Germany when I saw the dudes below...I was indeed in Austria! So, ha! My comments stand.)

Leg 2 - arrive in sketchy innsbruck train station at 3 am and hang out in info room with homeless booze-hounds.

Leg 3 - innsbruck to garmisch-partenkirchen (rockin' the G.Love in Shelley Glover's honour)...

MHTV #5.25 entering garmisch-partenkirchen territory! from megan harrod on Vimeo.

...arrive 8am...finally find my way to race venue at around 9:30am. Settle in for some finish area fun...race delayed due to heavy fog in the mid-section of the course (see pic below) every 30 minutes until it was finally canceled at 2:30pm. Many red bull colas, bratwursts (massive!), interactions with the Hermann Maier fan club and trips to a really nasty trailer full of bathroom stalls later, I was left slightly disappointed that I didn't get a chance to see my first euro world cup race (and DH at that!).

Worried I wouldn't be able to find my friends, I asked around (after not speaking the entire day in fear that no one would speak english) until I found 'em, and then I smiled big and we went on our merry way. Although there wasn't a race, it was still heaps o' fun to experience the fanfair in the finish area (I am just saying this to make myself feel better - but it's working!). Seriously unreal...and that's nothing compared to Kitzbuhel (which I will, no doubt, be attending next year - here I come, Londoner!). I had a blast hanging with Kevin Francis (check him out - he's a rock star and will be finishing top 30 often in the coming year! sorry had to get a shameless plug in there for ya, kevin:)) and friends - they're all super-fly. So that was that, and it was rad. (look deeper...in the reflection of the glass!)
Leg 4 - it's sunday AM and I grab some yummy german bread (it's heavenly!) and hitch a train to Munchen for a lil' side trip. On the way, I meet a cool chick who is actually from Prague too...this lady will be deemed "COOL CHICK #1" of the trip. Oh happy was I to find a new friend. But it wasn't too long before we exchanged info and then were on our merry separate ways and I bought a meal that made me feel at home (pizza and starbucks!). ha!

Leg 5 - Wien, here we come! So here I was, heading to Wien (Vienna, duh!) and the hostel ruthensteiner (a fellow member of Europe's Famous Hostels - woot, woot!)! Made it to the hostel and was welcomed by Franz and a friendly staff, then went to my dorm room (yikes - get re-acquainted with dorm room etiquette!) to settle in. After that, Franz told me about a little restaurant around the corner that had sweet "schnitties". ha! Wienerschniztel galore! So, I went...and it rocked. And I thought to myself, 'all of this fatty goodness and no Firm...I am DOOMED!' hee. But it was fab. And, what made it even more fab was running into COOL CHICK #2 of the trip...who came to my table and introduced herself. We gabbed and gabbed, and realized we were pretty lucky to have met each other...so we watched the Superbowl that night and we explored Wien like princesses on Monday. It's pretty amazing, the people you meet when you travel...it's such a neat part of it all.

Then, it was Tuesday...and my mission awaited me: the date with the czech consulate! After neglecting to shower (oops...hope I didn't smell like the men in the innsbruck train station!), I said "goodbye" to my new friends, Franz and Monica, at the Hostel Ruthenstiener...and was off to find the consulate. After a few small glitches (note: disgruntled face in below pic), I handed off my application successfully and headed back home to Prague via Student Agency buses. Fingers crossed, I'll be able to head back to Wien within 60 days to grab my shiny, new work visa! Ugggh, we'll see about that...

Leg 6 - back home...to prague, smiley and thumbs-up!

Mission: Completed.

Rock star,

Me

P.S. I absolutely ADORE Germany!

P.S.S. Everyone thought I was German (like really German...not just faux-German. I'm not sure if that's a good thing...ha ha)...

get the motor runnin'...head out on the highway...to Garmisch-Partenkirchen!

Yeah, you heard me right...i'm taking my first fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants trip tomorrow on an overnight train to Garmisch to grab my first european world cup race, then perhaps up to Munich on Saturday night, then over to Vienna on Sunday night to prep for the ol' date with the embassy (visa trip). oooooooh yeah, baby.

Germany/Austria...here I come.

This should be interesting.

Saddle up! We're in for a good ride!

Just letting the wind blow me on my merry way...stay tuned for more...

me