Try and stop me.

I didn't sleep too badly on the train, but I still felt very uncomfortable when I arrived in Kiev. The youngest man from my carriage showed me how to get to the main hall of the station before catching his next train. Ana didn't arrive until 8.15 so I had a three hour wait. I slept on a bench for an hour before meeting her under the huge Christmas tree at the entrance of the station.

We send sms-ki and emails every day so we already had a lot to talk about. We waited for a friend of her father's, Sergei, to pick us up and drive us to his appartment where we would be spending the night.

Just driving through Kiev for ten minutes I could already feel that I was somewhere new. The feeling of no longer being in Russia was like a weight off my shoulders, and I welcomed the chance to make a new start and let my time 'over there' sink in. The centre of Kiev is very attractive; most of the buildings are at least 150 years old and they are all well designed and colourful. There are no overpowering buildings, no litter and almost no graffiti.

Sergei's appartment is more like a university building than a block of flats. It is in a courtyard that was a foot deep in snow. I watched a Ukrainian soap on his television set that was surrounded by plants, then we had a much needed shower and unpacked our bags. He took us to a buffet for breakfast.

I had barely eaten since yesterday morning so I stacked my plate as high as I could with black bread, pork shashlyk, dumplings and coffee with sugar, and when we got to the counter he wouldn't let me pay. It is probably for the best, I have no idea how many hrivna there are to the rouble. As we ate it started to snow outside.

Before Sergei went to work he showed Ana how to use the metro, then we walked around town on our own. The part of Kiev that is on a hill is very beautiful, with cobbled streets and few cars. The buildings are small, with their signs in a pretty Ukrainian font. The atmosphere is not like I have become used to in Russia; when Ana asked directions to the office she was looking for people tried their best to help her, and said "I'm sorry" if they didn't know. People talk to each other as they walk together, and hardly anyone looks bitter. Even though it is the capital city of a country that was part of the Soviet Union it feels more like a central european town, such as Budapest, than Moscow.

It was snowing so hard that our hair and coats had turned white, so we found a café where we could dry off and have lunch. It is the same brand of coffee shop where we spent an afternoon in Moscow, so I already associate it with being comfortable and talking a lot. Then came the first problem of my stay; how does one read a Ukrainian menu? The alphabet is practically the same - and some words are similar enough for me to understand - but all the same it is a different language. Most people in Ukraine speak both Ukrainian and Russian. Luckily Ana is one of them, and the word 'cappuchino' is universal!

We explored some more in the afternoon. As well as having an Armani department and a Hugo Boss store some of the shops wouldn't look out of place on any european high street. There is an underground mall where we found a music shop and a book shop. I regret not buying the Russian-Ukrainian dictionary that I found, but I will keep looking for another.

I said "I want to live here" at least 10 times. For a future home, Kiev has everything that I want; a Russian speaking city that is open enough to Europe. A place where no-one gave me bad looks for not being from Ukraine, but where almost all signs and metro announcements are in their own language. I picked up a business card from the British Council and a flyer from a language school.

We had dinner at another buffet, then took the metro back to Sergei's. We met his daughter when we got back, who gave him "Dad, you're so embarrassing" looks as he wandered around with his shirt off!

Unfortunately there were only two places to sleep, so I had to share a double bed with Sergei while Ana and his daughter did the same. But my day had been too good for some very loud snoring to upset me.

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