Kiev

As our semester begins to wind down, we have all realized how little time left we have to travel (and are starting to get VERY excited about coming home).  Last weekend, a group of seven headed to Kiev, Ukraine for a weekend of exploration and excitement.

We took an overnight train out of Moscow to Kiev on Wednesday night and luckily we met a fluent English/ Ukranian/ Russian speaker who graciously befriended us.  She translated when we were woken up at 3am by the Russian police to see our visas, tickets, and immigration cards.  She helped again when we were awoken at 5am by the Ukranian police who wanted basically the same thing.  The best part of meeting this wonderful woman was that when we arrived in Kiev she showed us to the metro and directed us to our hostel.

A few people had set plans in their mind of what they wanted to do with our time in Ukraine.  I however, was just along for the ride.  We have now been together (ALL THE TIME) in our dorm, in classes, traveling, sight-seeing, etc for almost three full months so there can sometimes be a little tension and bickering.  However, this extended amount of time together has also allowed us to form close bonds.  In our Kiev hostel we all slept in one room with lots of bunk beds.  My "bunk mate" was Caleb who also happens to be my neighbor in the dorm.  In the middle of the night Caleb's blanket was hanging off the bunk.  Below him, in my sleepy stupor, I took (stole) the blanket as my own.  Caleb, being the gentleman he is didn't even get off his bunk to rip it from my sleepy hands and only complained a little bit in the morning.

Kiev was warmer than Mocow, but still chilly and we dealt with a lot of rain and gray skies.  The city was gorgeous and we took lots and lots of pictures.  I forced my fellow explorers to get quite close to a Communist demonstration which was quite exciting.

Despite a couple cloudy days, we did get lucky and have some sunshine.  I stood arms wide, welcoming the much needed Vitamin D into my body for a good minute or so before I allowed anyone to continue walking.

Ukraine was much less expensive than Moscow.  We found a pizza place near our hostel which had delicious food and was only about $10 for a good sized pizza and drink.  We were also directed to пiаза жата (piazza hata) which we thought would be a pizza hut but actually means "big belly house" in Ukranian (which is almost the same as Russian but slightly different).  This cafeteria style eatery was cheap and yummy and allowed us to try some Ukranian food (basically the same as Russian food).

The highlight of our weekend was definitely Chernobyl which deserves a post of its own.