A Trip to Odessa, and A Short Return to Kyiv

After two weeks in my camp I got the opportunity to see my old friends from Kyiv in Odessa and relax for a week. As much I could expect these few days to be a crazy, drunken good time, they ended up being a relaxing few days of just hanging out.

The beaches of Odessa weren’t great, but it was still good to be on a beach, and although there was a lot of seaweed and I ended up bloodying my feet on the rocks, I still enjoyed them. Odessa was not as grand as Kyiv or Lviv, but it was a very nice city. I found it to be tourist-friendly and I could use more English here than in Kyiv or Lviv.

The rest of my time was spent doing things like walking through the rainy streets, watching horror films late at night, throwing nuts at our roommates while drinking vodka, and eating hot dogs at midnight. One particular memory that will stand out is a short confrontation with the police. Before going to a beach club, we planned to drink on the beach for a little bit, which I knew would have got us a fine but everyone was drinking on the beach so I figured it to be okay.

Unfortunately, as we were speaking English the cops became somewhat interested in us and chose 4 of us at random and brought to the police station. I happened to be one of these four. They search through our wallets and were particularly interested in our ID and our money. Afterwards, they spoke to us one on one. Unfortunately, I had a lot of money on me at the time, and while the other were asked for 400 grivna fines, they asked me for $1000 USD. I later found out the proper fine was 150 grivna, and I did work them down to $150 USD. Without any documentation or info on the officers, I am unable to file a complaint with my embassy.

We decided not to go to the club afterwards, as we had already spent enough money. My slight anger was quickly reversed after a round of go-karts. After all, it is only money. Our night continued with some sandwiches, beer, and hookah, and ended with one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. This night will live on as a good memory for me. (By the way, I want those pictures for whoever has them…Kristjian? Ada?)

Afterwards, I came back to Kyiv to hang out for a few more days. I had to ride 3^rd class back, which made me enjoy train travel in Ukraine a little less.

Kyiv was spent wandering around a lot as it is tough to organize 10-15 interns, but it was still time well spent. I almost had a chance to watch a football match before I left back to my camp, but unfortunately there were no tickets and we didn’t want to pay double to the scalper.

I got to see a few more areas of Kyiv that I hadn’t seen before which I think helps me to further develop my perception of Ukraine.

At the end of my stay it was time to start saying goodbye. Instead of saying goodbye as they went to their camp (and would eventually return) I started saying goodbye for the last time as they would leave the country soon or before I get back. It’s tough, but between that time, the train travel back to my camp, and my first half-day back at camp…my mind has been going at a million miles an hour in every direction. I’ll share that on my next blog though…