KPI (“Kyiv Polytechnic Institut”) is one of Ukraine’s biggest universities and my alma mater. It is so unique (compared to all other Ukraine universities), since all old buildings along with the student dormitories are located in the same area. That is probably common for modern European universities and very old famous world universities, however, you wouldn’t often see such a picture in Ukraine. With KPI, you could.

If you come at the time when all the students go to classes (8:25, 10:20, 12:15) it will be quite crowded on the streets, and then in ten minutes everyone suddenly disappears inside. And you are almost left alone. 

There are a lot of cool monuments on the grounds: a train, a tank, a helicopter, a plane and many many statues of the famous scientists who worked there. There is a great mix of old buildings from the start of the 20th century and soviet “classic” architecture. Across the main building, there is a great park where squirrels live. They are so cute but spoiled by attention from the students and all the visitors. So it is very hard to get their attention, even if you’ve saved a couple of nuts for them :(.

My advice is to go there by metro (“Politechnichnyy Instytut” station), grab a coffee and go for a walk across the grounds. Overall, this is a great place to feel the vibe of a young new generation.