Dnipropetrovsk Travel Forum

Hello, I am English and moving to dnipropetrovsk in a few weeks to start work in a new job.

I am a bit worried because i don't speak any russian and i don't think english is that widely spoken!

can anybody recommend any places to go / things to do / nice cafes etc or offer any helpful do's and don'ts?

All help apreciated!

Hi :)
"places to go" - it depends on what are you looking for. If you are interesting in history - it's a Javornitsky museum, as for architecture - there are a lot of interesting old buildings on Komsomolskaya St., Pushkina av., if you like parks - go to the park at the Octyabrskaya sq. - it's beautiful in fall. If you like organ music - you may visit organ-hall, as for English-speaking people - you may visit on Sunday: service in International Church or English Movie Club, as for food for body: try ukrainian cuisine in "Khutir" restaurant, if you like to ride a horse - go to "Berkut" .... and so on and so on..... So - the main question is to what you are interesting in?
anyway - welcome to DN. I hope you will enjoy it.

Hi thanks for that advice! I'll make a note of those places.

I will be working as a nanny, looking after two small boys. I'm very excited as the job itself is really good. Nannying can be lonely though, because you don't have work colleagues or anything, so making friends outside of work is vital to my sanity!!! I've worked abroad before and I do speak some other lanuages (Russian isn't one of them though!).

I went to Bucharest in Romania earlier this year and I did find the culture itslef different and I did find that people didn't speak English. I have been told (by a friend who taught English in Kiev) that English is not widely spoken in the Ukraine either. The family that I will be working for speak OK English but it is not great, and they don't know of anyone who speaks English to a high standard. They have put me in touch with the English Dept at the university, I haven't heard back from them, but I hope to soon! Also, I just cannot get my head round the cyrllic alphabet - it makes no sense to me!

Also, when I ususally go away, I take a guide book, but I've not been able to find a single guidebook that has any information on DP. Well, I did find one, but it only had info on hotels, and I would like to know more about cafes and where to go etc, as I've not got a clue!

Anyway, thanks again for your tips. If anyone has anything more to add, I'd be really grateful!

I don't agree with the people who wrote before me in such a positive manner, my experience as an outlander was different.
I've been around in the Rovninska oblast in December 2001 and June 2002, especially in the winter it wasn't fun.
I'm used to western standards, for me it was really boring!
I really needed the Russian which I teached myself; otherwise I would have felled even more handicapped.
In contrast to the people before me I'll say:
You shouldn't worry, but prepare!
Learning Russian is very important, so just put yourself to it.
I learned the Cyrillic alphabet to,
One tip : Don't translate in your mind, just think the new words and picture the images in front of you.
If your with Ukrainian people, and you want to pay for something, let the Ukrainian people do the talking for you it can save you very much money!!!