My Peace Corps Ukraine packing list

OK this is a LOOONGGGG list without a lot of photos or anything to really keep you engaged and entertained. Sorry!

But, in true Peace-Corps-Volunteer-with-a-blog fashion, here’s a list of everything I packed for my two-plus years of Peace Corps service in Ukraine.

Me at DTW with everything I own for the next two-plus years.

In case you were curious, here’s the Peace Corps-sanctioned packing list for Ukraine. It’s pretty comprehensive, but when I was preparing to leave, I was still obsessively Googling to see what other volunteers packed to serve in Ukraine. Obviously, a volunteer packing to serve in Eastern Europe is going to pack much differently than a volunteer packing to serve in South America or Africa. Hello, winter!

I doubt this post will be of much interest to anyone that isn’t packing to depart for Peace Corps service in Ukraine… but if you are and you ended up here somehow, hopefully this is useful!

The chaos unfolds in the middle of my dad’s living room.

LUGGAGE

We were allowed to bring the maximum that most airlines allow for international flights: A personal item (small purse or backpack that fits under the seat in front of you), a carry-on, and two checked bags, each weighing 50 pounds or less.

(Mine were both right around 50 pounds each for my Delta flight from Detroit to staging in LA, but then I rearranged some luggage and they both ended up sliiiightly heavier. Luckily, the Lufthansa agents that checked all 50-plus of us in for our flight from LA to Kyiv were so nice, and turned a blind eye to the fact that some of our bags were closer to 60 pounds than 50, haha.)

Osprey Porter 30 (personal item)
Away Carry On (carry on)
Away Medium (checked bag)
Patagonia Black Hole 90L (checked bag)

CLOTHING

I probably went WAY overboard on the clothing. When we had a pre-service luncheon way back in the spring, RPCVs from every other country said not to pack too much clothing. However, alllll the Ukraine RPCVs urged us to pack as much clothing as possible, since it’s hard to find good quality clothing in Eastern Europe. I took that advice to heart and absolutely stuffed my bags full.

I’m only a few weeks into PST, but I’m already glad I did.

To make things easier, I made a capsule wardrobe of sorts, and only packed clothes in certain colors: Neutrals (black, white, gray, taupe, leather, denim), cobalt blue, red and olive. That way pretty much everything I own matches everything else, so everything can be mixed and matched.

OUTERWEAR

Black winter parka
Black rain jacket
Olive Barbour jacket
Olive Barbour vest
Denim jacket
Black Patagonia Nanopuff
Black leather jacket

TOPS

Three Ralph Lauren oxfords: White, blue, blue-and-white striped
Two blue chambrays
Three cardigans: Short charcoal, long light gray, long knit olive
Gray blazer
Black blazer
14 t-shirts in a various combination of black, white, gray, olive, black-and-white striped, cobalt blue — and two fun tees: A NASA t-shirt (cause, former USSR, hah) and a Chicago Tribune Guild t-shirt
Dressy black silk t-shirt
Simple black tank top
Black tank top with reversible neckline
Olive tank top with buttons down the front
Black-and-white striped 3/4-sleeve tee
Black and gray baseball tee
Cobalt baseball tee
Silver dressy cami top
Red dressy sleeveless blouse
Blue dressy sleeveless blouse
Dressy ruffled white tank top
Dressy plain white tank top
Dressy black tank top
Reversible dressy red-and-black cami top
Black v-neck tunic
Black merino wool turtleneck sweater
Lightweight light gray sweater
Thick olive cable-knit sweater
Thick black cable-knit sweater
Thick gray cable-knit sweater
Comfy gray off-the-shoulder sweater (can you tell gray is my favorite color? Haha.)

BOTTOMS

Black skirt (knee-length)
Olive skirt (knee-length)
Olive chinos
Denim shorts
Dark khaki skinny corduroys
Black dress pants
Dark wash skinny jeans
Black skinny jeans
Black Prana travel pants
Red-and-black plaid pajama shorts
Gray fleece pajama pants

DRESSES

Red polka dot dress
Black professional(ish) dress, knee-length with sleeves
Black sundress
Black maxi dress
Olive shift dress (super casual)
Cobalt blue dress (knee-length, kinda dressy)

SHOES

Birkenstocks (Yara)
Black flats
Red flats
Cognac leather flats
Running shoes
Convertible stilettos/ sandals (SO useful!)
Black waterproof booties
Taupe waterproof booties
Black oxfords
Black Keds
Wheat Timberlands

ACCESSORIES AND MISC.

Leather backpack
Leather crossbody
Longchamp Lepliage backpack
Leather belt
Red skinny belt
Two swimsuits: Black and neon patterned (this is literally the only fun-colored thing I brought, lol)
Black swimsuit coverup
Black wristwatch
Black sunglasses
Misc. jewelry: A few necklaces for layering, some simple stud earrings, layered rings, a clear nose ring stud to hide my facial piercing, etc., a few bracelets
Underwear — probably about 15 pairs of Soma invisible and Exofficio, mostly all black… because public line drying. (I’ve literally heard horror stories of volunteers bringing lacy thongs and having to publicly line-dry them in front of the entire community. Yikes!)
Black bralette
Two nude bras
Black-and-white polka dot bra
Socks: Some combination of thick socks, ankle socks and no-show socks.
Two patterned black-and-white bandanas
Black leather gloves
Brown leather gloves
Patterned wool scarf
Black beanie
Baseball hat (go Tigers!)
Black felt fedora (I HAD TO!)
Uniqlo heattech: One pair of black thermal tights, a gray thermal turtleneck, a cream-colored long-sleeve thermal top, a black long-sleeve thermal top and two nude-colored cami tops
Light gray cami tank for layering

FITNESS

Blue running bra
Two black yoga bras
Olive yoga bra
Two pairs of black leggings
Black running shorts
Black tank top
Gray tank top
White tank top

TECH

MacBook Pro and charger (with Euro adapter for charging block — I didn’t bother bringing ANY of my US charging blocks. Strictly European charging blocks)
MacBook case
iPhone (in its case)
Extra iPhone screen protector
Three lightning cords
Two USB to Euro adapters
One multi-use travel adapter
Travel power strip (Mogics bagel)
Bose noise-canceling headphones
Three micro USB charging cords
USB-to-USB-C adapter
Two portable power banks
2TB external hard drive (volunteers swap these around and trade movies and TV shows)
Two Kindles (I LOVE reading and am terrified one would die on me)
Cyrillic alphabet keyboard cover
Portable USB data blocker
Portable USB fan
Small battery-powered flashlight

TOILETRIES + MAKEUP

My Travelon travel toiletry kit filled with TSA-approved minis of my toiletries (I lived out of my backpack for about a week straight between staging and arrival retreat, before I made it to my host family’s house in Zhytomyr — this was so useful, because I didn’t have to break out my full-sized toiletries at all during this time. Plus, I’ll be taking weekend trips around Ukraine/ Europe throughout my service. BRING A TRAVEL TOILETRY KIT!)
Extra mini toiletries (dry shampoo cans, toothpaste, shower wipes, etc. — anything that can’t be refilled like shampoo/ liquid soap)
One bottle each of shampoo and conditioner
Two bottles and three bars of Dr. Bronner’s soap
Three cans of dry shampoo
One bottle of nail polish remover
Two bottles of nail polish (it was a PAIN to narrow down the colors — I didn’t bother with top or base coats since I get my nails done professionally for cheap, here. Manicures are a huge part of Ukrainian culture so it’s expected that I do this. These are just for my toes, hah.)
Three bottles of contact solution
One pair of glasses
A handful of contact cases
Two sticks of deodorant
One bottle of face soap
Two Boie loofah scrubbie guys
A reusable razor handle
Eight disposable razor heads
12 boxes of two-week contact lenses (I’m a terrible human and wear my two-week lenses for like, a month, whoops)
Wet brush
A handful of Invisibobble hairties and bobby pins
Perfume — two regular sized bottles and two travel-sized bottles
Three containers of daytime moisturizer
One container of nighttime moisturizer (winter)
One container of nighttime moisturizer (summer)
Three bottles of retinol
Various makeup (brushes, two eyeshadow palattes, six tubes of liquid eyeliner, four tubes of mascara, two containers of eyebrow powder, some foundation and primer, etc. I don’t wear a lot of makeup on a daily basis, but I brought as many of my staples in bulk as I could)
10 tubes of mint Chapstick (lol)
Bugspray wipes
Micellar wipes
Cotton balls and Q-tips
Ruby cup
Two bottles of sunblock
Six travel tissue packs
Nail clippers/ tweezers/ file/ etc.
Four toothbrushes
My retainer
One tube of toothpaste

FOOD

Ghirardelli mug brownie mix packets (Unfortunately these broke open and spilled ALL over my luggage between DTW and LAX.)
Two boxes of Ghirardelli regular brownie mix (to make with my host families)
Three ranch dressing packets (lol)
Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter
Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning
Three bags of pre-ground coffee (I was told it’s hard to find good non-instant coffee in Ukraine, but my site has PLENTY of coffee — including Starbucks.)
About a dozen instant oatmeal packets
A few packets of Pedialyte powder (bc Ukrainians and their vodka, haha)

MISC.

FUN

Yoga mat
Mala beads
Voodoo doll. This was a gift from my former coworker Lara, who also served in the Peace Corps, and I love it
Photo album full of photos from home
Trinkets for gifts: Chicago shot glasses, Sanders hot fudge, Chicago post cards, Jolly Ranchers (for kids), Chicago fridge magnets. (I bought two shot glasses and two jars of hot fudge specifically for my host families, but brought extra post cards, magnets and Jolly Ranchers to give out as gifts)
A giant stack of thank you cards (I already know these will come in handy)

SCHOOL/ STUDY SUPPLIES

Index cards (so useful for making flash cards during PST, I wish I’d brought more)
A notebook (It’s hard to find non-grid notebooks in Ukraine — plus this is GREEN AND GLITTERY AND FUN)
Black sharpies
Pens (I REALLY wish I’d brought more. I brought a handful of whatever was in my backpack, and I’m down to the shitty ballpoint pens already.)
My journal
Bananagrams

ETC.

My passports (I have two — my Peace Corps-issued no-fee passport for work-related travel, and my regular citizen passport for vacation travel)
My credit and debit cards. I have a Schwab debit card (free ATM withdrawals in local currency for traveling), a Capital One Venture One credit card (FTF-free, also for traveling) and my Discover Card (not really accepted anywhere here, but I still have it and will probably use it if I need to make online purchases, like Kindle books or blog hosting fees or anything back in the US that arises that I’ll have to pay for)
A coin purse (we were given a cash stipend, as Ukraine is a cash-heavy society, and this is pretty much all we have for PST. I wish I’d brought a wallet, but I did not)
A coffee Thermos (my host mom makes coffee every morning — this is a Godsend for taking it with me to PST)
Hydroflask water bottle (honestly a cheap Nalgene would have sufficed cause nobody drinks cold water in Europe — that’s a very American thing)
A french press (this literally shattered in my luggage on the way from DTW to LAX, though.)
Microfiber travel towel
Two Turkish towels — one full-sized and one small-sized. (I always take these everywhere when I travel)
Carabiner clips
A hot water bottle
Tinfoil
Quart-sized Ziploc bags
Sandwich-sized Ziploc bags
Eye mask and earplugs

OK, there it is! Like I said, probably pretty boring unless you’re personally preparing to head on over to Ukraine to serve in the Peace Corps, but hopefully someone somewhere will find some use out of this!

In terms of things I wish I packed, there are a few things. School/ office supplies in Ukraine aren’t the best quality, so I wish I’d packed some crayons, markers and colored pencils.

I also wish I’d packed more teaching supplies and games! I figured that once I got to site I would just “figure it out,” and I thought my precious luggage space could be better spent on clothes and shoes, but it is honestly SO hard to teach when you literally only have a textbook and nothing else.

I also wish I’d packed more American foods and clothes! But, obviously, space restraints.

A few things I wish I hadn’t packed, or could have lived without:

So many t-shirts. I don’t wear them as much as I thought I would.
Regular ankle socks. Can be found here… and they’re cute patterns!
My water bottle. Water here isn’t safe to drink, so I have to buy bottled water a lot anyway.
Toothbrushes/ toothpaste/ deodorant/ shampoo/ conditioner: Most American brands (Colgate/ Dove/ OGX/ etc.) can be found here.
My French press/ coffee. Can be found here.
My photo album. I literally never look at this since photos are on my phone.
A Cyrillic keyboard cover. This got stretched out and floppy and useless within a few weeks. I had to order stickers to use instead.
Travel tissues/ cotton balls/ Q-tips: Can all be found here.
A hot water bottle. All my housing has had good heating.

I’m sure I’ll add more to this list throughout my service, but as for now, here’s everything I brought with me to Ukraine.

This post was originally published September 8, 2019. Its timestamp has been updated to better reflect the timeline of my Peace Corps service.