I have come back from Ghana almost a month ago, so now it was time to get out again: this time my destination was the Normandy in France. I spent a couple of days on the Contentin Peninsula with my parents. Unfortunately, we've had a lot of rain, but still, I love this region of France and hope to inspire you to go on holiday there.


The beautiful coastline is known by many due to the Normandy Landings on D-Day. There are loads of museums around, however the view itself is spectacular enough. There's something for everyone: you can hike, bike, take a walk through the dunes or do horseback riding on the beach.


I went swimming one sunny day, but even if you get the bad weather it usually clears up a bit in the evening so you can take a walk on the beach and watch sundown.


Sadly for me, the restaurants there aren't exactly vegan friendly but you get fresh vegetables on the market and I even discovered almond milk in a tiny organic store.


Not only the landscape has a lot to offer, almost every town and village has at least one museum or interesting sight. The picture above was taken in the house where Christian Dior was born and raised.


You will also come across many beautiful small shops and boutiques, where you will love to poke around for souvenirs or small presents for the ones at home.
So if you're on the lookout for a place to spend a few quiet and relaxed days, now you've found it.

-Sarah

I always considered myself to be a mountain person. This moment when I'm on my snowboard just going down the slopes and not thinking about anything else is when I'm happiest. I always overthink everything but not in that moment when all that counts is to look for the best way to descend the mountain and nothing else matters. Not that I'm not a happy person otherwise but usually other thoughts seem to keep me from just truly living in the moment and enjoying every second of it. That's what snowboarding does to me. But then last weekend happened and I might just be an ocean person now. I tried surfing for the first times and even though most of the time I just fell into the water instead of nicely standing up on the board it was an amazing experience. Just being in the water and trying to get a good wave while having a good laugh with friends - I don't think life can get much better than this.


And did I say anything about the landscapes yet? We went to Phillip Island for the surf camp and the beaches are breathtaking, especially when you drag yourself out of bed at 6:30 to watch the sunrise. I spent most of my time at the beach just walking around exploring and of course taking lots of photos. I must say I never quite understood the obsession lots of Europeans have with Australia but now that I'm here - I get it. Not only are the people super friendly, but the nature is simply beautiful. I think it's fair to say that I fell in love with the sea and everything else about Australia. Just thinking about leaving in about 4 months makes me want to cringe. But then again that's just me overthinking everything, for now I'm just going to enjoy my time here and leave you guys with some of my favorite shots from the weekend.

As you may have realized I have been absent from the blog for a while now and the reason for that is that I was packing my bags and leaving Ghana.
Although it was really tough trying to pack for good and leave my life there, knowing it will never be like this again, I was looking forward to going back.
 Some of my friends and family wrote to me, just before I was going to return home, saying how happy they were to see me again, which did a lot to highten my excitement.
However, it was somewhat dimmed, when in one email a relative said: "Now your bags are packed, you're preparing for your flight back to Germany and civilisation"

I can't even say how angry I was when I read this. There I was, having lived in Ghana for eleven months, perfectly alright and equipped with everything "civilisation" has to offer.
I'm back little more than one week and am really happy with how a lot of people seem really interested to hear some stories about Ghana, but it also makes me sad that some stick with their (often obsolete) prejudices. Now, I'm not saying, that I expected Ghana to be exactly the way it was for me in the end, but how could it be? Even now, after almost a year I would never claim to know or understand everything about this country, but that's the point:
Ghana is, any country is, too diverse to entirely get everything about it. And the same is true for Africa as a whole.
Yes, there is hunger, yes, there are wars and diseases - but that's not all there is, not everywhere.
There's also malls and smart phones, there's highways and skyscrapers, there's theatres and schools and so much more.

Many people congratulate me on how I made such a sacrifice to go "down there and help", but let me tell you something: Ghana and its people have helped me so much more than I did and I had all the comfort I needed. I can't even start to explain how this experience has helped me to develop my personality and mature.
My work in the school meant incredibly much to me, but now that I'm back home I see that the most important part of my service is to tell people a different tale about a part of Africa.
They say there is "the Africa the media never show you". That's true I guess, but there is also a lot to see out there if you just keep your eyes open, everybody can fight ignorance, even if it's just their own.

- Sarah