So, A few weekends ago, September 27-30th, I went
on my first vacation since I’ve been living here in Kiev, Ukraine. For this
long weekend, our group decided to go to Odessa, Ukraine. We left Kiev,
Wednesday night and took a sleeper train to Odessa. I have never been on an
actual train before and it was a really neat experience. Alexis, Jenna, and I
were all in the same cabin along with a random guy, Sergey. On the sleeper
train we, of course, had snuggle time! Hehehe but pretty soon after the train
left Kiev, I fell asleep… well, kinda. I would knock out then wake up.. knock
out.. wake up. It was pretty annoying because all I wanted to do was get a good
night sleep so I could have fun as soon as I got to Odessa.
I know its blurry, but here is me and the Train :)
Me and Alexis in our cabin.
Just chilling with my yogurt :)
This is when we left Odessa, but you can actually see me and the train :)
Thankfully, most of
the other girls didn’t sleep well either so as soon as we found our hostel and
got some food, we all took naps. Finding the hostel, was quiet and adventure
trying to figure out what exactly the directions were saying. Once we found the
correct Tram, not trolley bus, to get on and the driver telling us where to get
off we walked a little ways and eventually saw a sign telling us how to get to
the hostel. The Hostel was pretty sketchy looking on the outside. We had to go
through a creepy tunnel like alley way and then into a creepy old building and
up 3 flights of stairs that smelled just like a cat’s litter box. Thankfully,
our hostel was actually really nice. All 12 of the girls in my group (me
included) were in the same room so I felt muchhhhh better about the safety of
my stuff.
The Hostel... first we through the creepy alley way
This is the building...
Old and sketchy looking right?
The Entrance...
Up a couple flights of stairs....
Through this door...
Okay... It looks pretty nice... Through the door on the left...
Yay! Our room :)
Our cute room :)
Like I said above, after we found the hostel and dropped our
stuff off we went to find food. Right around the corner from the hostel was a
cute little square full of café’s. We picked one and sat down. Eating out the
Ukraine is always an interesting experience. Ukrainians believe it is a time to
enjoy each other companies and shouldn’t be rushed…. Shouldn’t be rushed…. They
mean that part. Literally, we all sat down at 4 people to 3 tables and ordered.
Thankfully, they had a menu in English. Anyways, after we all ordered food, it
came out and random times and took a long time to get to us. Once we all
finished eating, it took the lady a while to come back out so we could ask her
for our bill. The food was good, but it was hard o adjust to the slow service
which is common in Ukraine. Then I finally got my nap! Yay! After my short 1
hour nap, I woke up put on my swimsuit and with some of the girls from my group
went to hit up the black sea! :) Me, Jenna, Samantha, Mallory, Hanna, Erika,
and Taia, all ventured to find the Black Sea. We asked the lady at the front
desk how to get there and she told us we could either take a marshrutka or
walk. We all decided to walk. It was probably about a 30-40 minute walk there
but it was a beautiful walk. I LOVE ODESSA. It totally has the beach town feel.
On the walk to the Sea we stopped in a couple of little stores along the way
and enjoyed the scenery. I felt like I was in a movie. Anyways, once we made it
to the Black Sea, my jaw dropped. It was so BEAUTIFUL. I love the beach and
took a ton of pictures. :) and the water was….. FREEZING. Seriously, I wasn’t
expecting it to be that cold! Thankfully, before we even got into the water we
decided that we weren’t going to all the wet because we didn’t bring a change
of clothes and that we were probably going to eat before heading back to the
hostel. So I only went up to my thighs in the water. The water was freezing at
first but I got used to it quickly so that was good. I really enjoyed going to
the Black Sea that day, one of the other main reason I decided that I wasn’t
going to get my whole body wet was because I knew that I would get the chance
to do that on Saturday with the whole group.
On the way to the Black Sea :)
Beautiful Odessa
We're getting closer, thankfully it was a beautiful walk :)
First glimpse of the Black Sea!
Gorgeous
Stunning View
BLACKKKKKKKKK SEAAAAAAAAAA
On the way back, I just had to take a picture in this phone booth.
Once we left the Black Sea, we tried to find a marshrutka to
take us back to our hostel. We didn’t see our number so we decided to walk
back. I was really tired on the way back… and it felt way longer… but it was
fun to just talk with everyone. As we were walking back to the hostel we
decided that we should meet the rest of the girls at the restaurant. Earlier,
when I was napping a few of the girls went and explored near or hostel and to
the opera house to get us tickets to see Sleeping Beauty the following night.
As they were walking around they say a Mexican restaurant. Once I heard the
words Mexican restaurant, that is seriously, all I could think about. I was
craving it! Once we met up with the rest of the group we all agreed on Mexican
so we went to a cute Mexican restaurant. Samantha, Alisha, and I, after looking
through the menu, decided that we would all split our dishes. I ordered Chicken
Parmesan, Samantha ordered a chicken burrito, and Alisha ordered Linguini. The
food was DELICIOUS. I was happy and very full.
The whole group
Sorry, no before picture.. we devoured it.
After the Mexican food we decided to get some frozen Greek
yogurt. They had peanut butter as one of the options to add to my yogurt… so
yeah… I basically had peanut butter with frozen yogurt on top. ;) Basically the
whole time we were in the yogurt place figuring out how it works, the elderly
Greek man kept trying to hook us up with his pretty attractive son. He kept
telling us that his son knows where all the best clubs are and that he could be
our tour guide. It was pretty funny, and no worries we left him behind. :P
After we left the yogurt place, I needed to get batteries for my camera… but,
then my camera started being dumb and even when I added more batteries it would
work…. Argggg. Anyways, on the way back to the Hostel we saw a carnival like
area with a giant blown up tiger that was a slide, a few carnival games, and a
mechanical bull. I kinda wanted to ride the bull but brushed it off because
everyone seemed like they wanted to go back to the hostel right away. However,
when my friend Alisha said that she wanted to ride the bull, I immediately
jumped on the opportunity and we both rode the bull. I went first. As I was
about to get into the arena type thing the man started speaking to me in
Russian, telling me to off my shoes, I assume. Haha. Anyways, some guys from
across the arena tried translating what he was saying and yelled at me “Take
off your clothes!” when we all looked at him he looked immediately embarrassed
and gasped and said “I mean take off your shoes, take off shoes!!!” It was
pretty hilarious. Riding the mechanical bull was harder than I thought it would
be. Not to mention that because the girls in my group that were there were
dying laughing, I was laughing so hard I was crying.. which made it hard to
see. I was also wearing shorts so the bull was rubbing up against my thighs
which hurt. Haha okay, so maybe I making excuses. Straight up, I sucked at it.
but, it was fun and definitely an experience I will never forget. I mean how
many people do you know that have ridden a mechanical bull in Odessa, Ukraine?!
Haha that’s what I thought ;) When Alisha went she made it look easy. She
easily hopped up on the bull and stayed on way longer than I did. Haha Good
job, Alisha. :P
--- I'll add a video of me riding the bull if Alexis can email it to me. ---
On Friday, we walked around Odessa. Thankfully, the main
touristy street was literally right around the corner from our hostel. We
walked into all the little souvenir stores and found a BEAUTIFUL hidden area
with sculptures everywhere. Seriously I gasped and my jaw dropped when I saw
this place! Stunning! As we were shopping, some I met some British people. It
was really hardddd to not talk in my British accent…. Like really hard! I
didn’t want it to seem like I was making fun of them though, when in fact I
think British accents are freaking awesome. :)
After shopping for a bit, we saw a beautiful Cathedral and
decided to go in. It was so gorgeous :)
In the park. :)
In the park, with my other new boyfriend. ;) haha
Beautiful Odessa.
While souvenir shopping... yeah, I got out of there fast before I spent all my money. :P
Beautiful hidden area
Close up on one of the walls.
So tempted to by this Harry Potter Russian nesting doll.
Cathedral
Cathedral
We aren't suppose to take pictures inside the cathedral... so SHHHH! but, it's so gorgeous :)
Then we all eventually made our way back to the Hostel where
we all got ready to go to the ballet that night. Odessa’s Opera House is
Gorgeous. Everything in Odessa is gorgeous in case I haven’t expressed that
enough. In the Opera House we saw the ballet: Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty. It
was really well done, the costumes and backdrops were awesome! At the ballet a
Communist sat behind me. The reason I know this is because Jenna gave up her
seat to a really old man and he ended up sitting next to Hanna. During one of
the intermissions, we turned around and he kept trying to talk to us. He knew
maybe 4 words in English and everything else he said was in Russian, even after
we told him we don’t understand and we don’t speak Russian, in Russian!
Anyways, after he found out we were from America he opened up a news paper and
pointed to a huge heading that said “коммунист” or communist once you sound it
out. We said “communist?” and he nodded and pointed to the word then at himself…
so yep, I sat in front of a communist at the Ballet. Haha After the ballet we
went over to a sweet missionary couples house for dessert. It was AMAZING. They
had brownies and apple crumble! It hit the spot :)
The Opera House:
Alish, Jenna, Erika, Hanna and Me, after the Ballet :)
The next day, as a whole group we headed down to the Black
Sea. It was beautiful and we took a ton of group pictures.. well atleast those
of us who actually got in the water. Some girls just got their feet wet and
called it a day. That is totally not legittly swimming in the Black Sea. I on
the other hand went all the way under and officially swam in the Black Sea :)… I
mean when else am I ever going to have the opportunity to swim in the Black
Sea?! Jenna, me, Hanna and Erika all left the Sea before the others so we could
shower before going out to eat later that night. On the way back I was joking
with Jenna how a few weeks ago I google translated how to say “I like to have
sex” in Russian and told her that’s what you say to hail a taxi. Of course, she
knew right away that that wasn’t what it said and google translated what I sent
her. Anyways, as we were talking about that, we started joking that in a blink
of eye she would disappear into the taxi and I would never see her again :( and
then in like 15 years down the road she’s going to have escaped from the taxi
drivers deep dark cave. We then joked that she would have probably had popped
out like 7 by that time. During this whole exchange and giggling of this
ridiculous story, Erika hadn’t said word then out of nowhere when Jenna was
saying how she would have had a lot of kids in that time, Erika says “Well, you
said you like to have sex.” Hahaha It was a really funny moment. Then when we
got on the Marshrutka to head back to our hostel I was in mid-sentence talking
to Hanna and I got a whiff of some REALLY bad B.O. I stopped in the middle of
my sentence and scrunched up my face in disgust. It was totally the people who
sat down behind us. It was overpowering. I for real felt like I was going to
throw up!
Once we got back to the hostel, we did our Black Sea dance
party! After showering and getting ready, it was getting kinda late and we were
hungry and wondering where the rest of the group was. A few minutes later we
got a phone call from them saying that they got lost and got off the Marshrutka
in the middle of ghetto town, Odessa. After helping them figure out how to get
home, with help from a member from the staff at the Hostel, Jenna said “I think
we should get brownie points for not getting lost.” Then Erika said, “I think
we should just get brownies.” Haha I really don’t know if Erika realizes how
funny she is.
Black Sea :)
Chilling on the beach with my best friend :)
Erika, Me, Hanna, and Jenna. Heading back from the Black Sea
The Dance Video:
Once all the other girls got back, we left and got some
pizza. Towards the end of finishing up eating we had a couple of beggars come
up to us asking us from money. It really made me mad when after Alisha gave one
of them a little bit money she look disappointed and stormed off. I mean
seriously? At least she gave you some money… that’s better than nothing.
Another thing that was kinda annoying was that she had this like whole speech memorized
in Russian and English… I mean, if you have time to memorize a speech, you have
time to go find a job…. Anyways, after Pizza, me, Jenna, Erika, Hanna, Taia,
and Alisha all went to get some Baskin Robbins ice cream. On the way there, we
stopped and took some pictures in a gazebo. As we were taking pictures these 3
ladies ran up to us, super excited and started sputtering off in Russian. Once
we told them we didn’t understand, they said “5 minutes…crazy fun… it’s a game!”
Then all of us, confused, started following them and laughing literally saying “HA.HA.HAHA!”
None of us knew what was going on, or where we were going. I kinda thought it
may have been a scavenger hunt and they had to find tourists or something… but
yeah. We were thrust into a line and asked to put are arms up with our hands
touching the person across from us hands… Just like after a soccer game when
you have the team run under your arms… Anyways, that is exactly what happened.
People started running under our arms and then when it was our turn we held hands with the person in front and behind us and ran under! We did this a few
time all dying laughing, all the way across the paved area. It was a lot of
random “crazy fun” haha
Taking pictures in the gazebo :)
GAZEBOOOO
Crazy Fun Game
5 Minutes, we will never forget :)
After that, we were
walking to Baskin Robbins, and there was a group of guys walking past us and one
had a giant ice cream cone and he faked trying to hit me with it. It was pretty
grand. :P Once we made it to Baskin Robbins, we realized that it was pretty
pricey and decided that we would just go to McDonalds and get some ice cream
there and meet up with the rest of the group. On our way to McDonalds, we saw a
segway and Hanna told us that it was on her bucket list to ride a segway, so of
course we told her she had to do it now! In Odessa, Ukraine!! So she did. :)
Yayy, Hanna! :) As she was segwaying, a random man came up to us holding a baby
alligator! Alisha and I immediately started talking to the man trying to figure
out if it cost or not. It didn’t cost, so Alisha got to hold the Alligator
first. I took a cute picture of her then
some other guy who spoke better English came over and told us it cost to take
pictures… so yeah…. I lied and said I deleted it… anyways, here is the picture.
Unfortunately, when I held the Alligator there was no way we could picture without having to pay for it… so I didn’t
get a picture… but I swear I hold it. It was pretty great :)
Baskin Robbins
Alisha and the Alligator
We then met up with the rest of the group, we went looking
for a karaoke bar so we could sing karaoke. As we were looking around Jenna and
I started a random dance party with “to the window, to the wall”… it was pretty
epic, you should have been there. Haha. Anyways, we didn’t find one that was
working or free, so we went back to the Hostel and packed up and got ready to
leave the following day.
They put something in our ice cream....
The next morning, we left. :( The End. Haha I wish that was
the end. But it’s not.. once we left the hostel we got on a tram heading back
to the train station. Of course, I had to stand squished up behind a lady with
a nasty mouse… actually it was probably a rat… it was gross and crawling all
over her… and it peed on her neck. IT WAS DISGUSTING. The smell on top of that
was seriously unbearable, I wanted to throw up. On the way to the train
station, we passed our stop… because the tram didn’t stop at the place where we
had gotten on originally when we first arrived in Odessa. So we got off and had
to walk basically a half mile to get there. Everything was fine and dandy until
Erika tripped and busted her ankle. It was bad! She was blacking out and her
ankle swelled up really fast! We quickly got together as a group and half of us
carried Erika and everyone else carried all of our luggage and stuff. I started
off carrying everyone’s stuff and part way there I switched out and started
carrying Erika, sadly, I was wearing sandals and the girl walking behind me as
we were carrying Erika kept stepping on the back of my shoe and it ended up
breaking. So I had to walk the rest of the way with one foot barefoot. Talk
about gross, not to mention that there are always random broken bottles and
glass on the ground. That was not a fun rest of the walk but I didn’t want to
take the time to put on a different shoe until I was sure we all made it to the
train station.
Carrying poor Erika
My poor busted sandal. :(
Once we made it
there, found our train, and got Erika situated in her cabin we played MASH,
party MASH, and What if.. It was a lot fun. I then napped for the end of the
train ride. Odessa was beautiful and I am so glad that I was able to go there. It
was quiet an adventure, but then again, my life is turning out to be quiet the
adventure.
