Michelle Kwan blogs for the U.S. Department of State

I finished things off yesterday with a reception at Ambassador Taylor's lovely residence. He and his wife were very welcoming, and I got to talk to lots of people from the skating world, as well as alumni of Department of State programs such as FLEX -- which takes young Ukrainians to the U.S. for a year of high school. We found a great fish restaurant for dinner after the reception, so all in all, a good evening.

Today -- what a day! I kicked things off bright and early with an appearance on the Ukrainian morning television show "Wake Up," which is sort of similar to "The View." The three hosts had crazy energy, so I can see why the show is so popular with people getting ready to start their day! I had a lot of fun both joking around and getting to talk seriously about why I'm here in Ukraine, so it made a good start to the morning.

Michelle talks with student from Dragomanova Pedagogical University

Later I got to talk to athletes studying at Dragomanov University's Institute of Physical Education and Sports. I wish time had permitted me to tour the Institute more completely, as I'm curious about what facilities it makes available to its students, but the part that I saw looked great. One very cool thing about my visit to the Institute -- they wanted to share Ukrainian culture with me, as well as hearing about my American experience, so they brought in some students to perform for the whole group. The male a capella group was fabulous, and I loved the two women who sang and played the bandura. Very cool.

We're off later this evening for Crimea, which should be very interesting. I'll be curious to see if the women there wear heels as high as they do here in Kyiv!

See photos from Michelle's visit to Dragomanova University.

Content was made available to the USOC by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Read more about Michelle's adventures in her role as an American Public Diplomacy Envoy.