Life in Zhytomyr, Ukraine — my Peace Corps PST city

So, Zhytomyr, Ukraine! An interesting city name with a lot of consonants squashed together, right?

I’ve mentioned it before, but I spent my pre-service training (PST) living and studying in the city of Zhytomyr, with my incredible host family. I talked a little bit about what PST was like, but I wanted to tell you a little more about Zhytomyr itself.

First of all, Zhytomyr is an oblast capital — so think of it like a state capital. However, unlike state capitals in the U.S., oblast capitals are the largest cities in the oblast. Zhytomyr’s population is just under 275,000 people, and it’s about a two-hour bus ride away from Kyiv. It was founded in the year 884. YES, IT’S THAT OLD!

(Amerikanka Randi over here is constantly blown away by how much history there is in Europe that hasn’t been, yunno, erased by colonialism and genocide.)

I only lived in Zhytomyr for two short months during training — and training was incredibly busy! — so I didn’t get to explore the city as much as I wanted to during training.

But! Thanks to an engaging and enthusiastic host family who dedicated all their time to making sure I saw their home city in a positive light, I was able to see a lot of Zhytomyr!

Here’s a little bit more about the city. Mykhailivska Street is the main artery of the city center. It’s a long walking street that runs from the gorgeous blue-and-white St. Michael’s church down to Korolyov Square. It’s lined with restaurants, coffee shops, drug stores, movie theaters and more. A lot of the popular Ukrainian chains — Lviv Croissants, Drunk Cherry, Varenychna Baluvana Halya, etc. — have locations here. I adored this part of town during the late summer! There were constantly street festivals going on, and there were always people everywhere.

Here are two of my favorite restaurants: Otto Miracoli, a pizzeria, and Buba a Georgian restaurant.

If you’re ever in Zhytomyr, go to Buba. You will not be disappointed.

Also good, although not pictured? Mario’s Pizza, Varenychna Baluvana Halya, Familia and Su&Bu sushi.

A little further out from the city center, there’s more to see and do. There are churches everywhere in Zhytomyr, and they’re all stunning.

Also… historical buildings!

In addition to the churches and historical buildings, there are a ton of cool monuments! I didn’t take enough photos when I lived in Zhytomyr, but here’s a memorial dedicated to the founding of the city.

There was also a lot of nature in Zhytomyr. I was absolutely spoiled by Chicago’s public parks and lakefront, so it was a relief to have just as much outdoor recreation space in the city of Zhytomyr.

I went to the Dendropark a few times — once with my host family and once with my TCF, LCF and link.

It’s a little tricky to get there because it’s barely inside the city borders, but it’s still so cool.

When I lived in Zhytomyr, I lived in the Kroshnia neighborhood, which was pretty far north. It was next to a stunning pond filled with grills and little lake houses. One weekend, I went to a party with my host family at one of them. It was a blast!

There’s some cool stuff on the outskirts of the city, but, like I said — I was only in Zhytomyr for a few weeks, and short of seeing all there was to see in the city center and in my neighborhood, I didn’t have too much time to explore elsewhere!

And also, of course — the Sergei Pavlovich Korolyov Museum of Cosmonautics!

Zhytomyr’s most famous resident is arguably Sergei Pavlovich Korolyov, the former head of the Soviet Space Program. Not only does Zhytomyr have a public square built around a monument in honor of the former Soviet rocket scientist, but there’s also an entire space museum in his honor. It’s pretty cheap and very cool.

I’m noticing now that I really didn’t take too many photos in Zhytomyr… which is a huge bummer.

There’s so much more stuff there. There’s Global, an absolutely massive shopping mall… with a McDonald’s. (I lived three blocks from a McDonald’s in Chicago, but literally never went. In Zhytomyr? I got a McFlurry and fries every week.)

There’s also the Staromisʹkyy Rechovyy Rynok, which is a big market near the city center. I got lost with my friend Danae one day looking at (and smelling!) all the fresh produce, meats, baked goods and Ukrainian delicacies.

And I mean honestly? It’s Ukraine! It’s practically a different planet to someone born and raised in the U.S., spending extended time abroad for the first time. I spent hours and miles just walking around staring at everything. Zhytomyr is such an interesting place!

This post was originally published April 20, 2020. Its timestamp has been updated to better reflect the timeline of my Peace Corps service.