Maidan Nezalezhnosti

After being in Kiev for a few days, I finally convinced my aunt that I will be perfectly safe going to see the protests happening in the city.  With hesitation, she let me go.

Seeing the protestors in real life was expectedly ghostly.  The stench of burnt tires and burning trees (ones that were just recently cut down from the city's usually lush boulevards) was unavoidable. Having visited this square hundreds of times, I was in disbelief at the transformation that had occurred over the past few months. The main post office was covered in graffiti. The streets and buildings were covered in black smog. Canvas tents and a makeshift campsite replaced the luxury cars that usually cruised down Khreschatyk Street. People were playing chess, serving and eating food, and chopping wood to fuel their campfires. Military personnel were stationed at every entrance, but they seemed to let anyone in.  Despite hundreds of people occupying Maidan Square, it was fairly quiet, which made it even more eerie.

For those of you who don't know what's going on in Kiev, heres a link to summarize what has been going on the past few months http://worldnewstoday.co.uk/2014/01/understanding-ukraine-a-detailed-timeline-of-the-euromaidan-protests/  ).