My last day in Chelyabinsk was surprisingly calm. No panic. Friends came over, we drank some standard Cola, and discussed the Russian national hockey team's standing rather than my upcoming trip. I packed my bag as if I were heading to university, not on a transatlantic journey. I had already learned from the bitter experience of airport overweight fees and the inability to just walk around transit cities because luggage firmly restricts all your attempts. So, I only took my laptop, t-shirts, and a change of underwear. Everything fit perfectly into a small backpack. I felt free.

At the station. I arrived for the train to Moscow 10 minutes before departure. My friends had already started worrying and flooding me with phone calls. As I expected, their luggage was about 8 times larger than mine. Sanka got away with a large bag, but Anyuta barely squeezed all her things into a huge suitcase on wheels. This later played a cruel joke on them)))

For those going on the program for the first time, I strongly recommend not taking anything extra. Essentials, t-shirts, and especially food can be bought upon arrival in the States at the very first supermarket for about $30, and all of it gets thrown away at the end of the summer anyway because you don't want to carry it back. This way, you save a lot of energy, nerves, mood, and even money. Because leaving a couple of bags for a few hours in Moscow costs about 300 rubles, while in the States it's about $10. So why drag more?

Another piece of advice: make copies of all documents you might lose on the road and leave them (the copies, not the documents) with your best friend in Russia. Specifically in Russia, because if you give the copies to a travel companion, they will most likely lose them even faster.

When planning my trip, I prioritized economy above all else, as I was very financially limited before the trip started. Perhaps that's why I chose the train as the cheapest transport to Moscow. RZD has a feature where they change the coefficient for ticket prices throughout the year. In summer and during holidays, this coefficient is higher, while in the off-season it's lower, making it cheaper to travel to the rhythmic sound of the wheels. On May 9th and 10th, the coefficient is only 0.45, meaning you can travel for just 45% of the ticket price. So we bought a ticket to Moscow for May 10th and paid 650 rubles for it... total! You can buy tickets online up to 45 days before the train's departure date. Just for reference!