Dear Igor, since your father is my best friend, I would like to share with you my experience, advice, etc. Since in a year you are going to the USA. In distant 2019 I visited the States on the W&T program just as you will soon go on this program. I understand that times are not what they used to be now, but you should grasp the principle.
I am glad that you chose Interechange as your sponsor, since it has already proven itself only in a good light; I recently heard that in almost every city in the CIS countries there are large IEC offices. And to be honest with you, you are very lucky that the program now in 2039 costs some meager $600. This is a good opportunity for you, students. You made the right choice in taking advantage of such a chance. My friend named Arman works as a coordinator at IEC; he also at one time visited the States. Recently I met him at a café, and he told me how IEC is organized nowadays: everything there is robotic, all required documents are collected by a computer, all necessary documents are accepted only in electronic form, and all that is required from students is only an electronic signature. It is very convenient, and they accept payment only in bitcoin. Yes, I understand that now bitcoin is used worldwide, but in the USA you can receive wages both in dollars and in bitcoin, whichever is more convenient for you. I would advise you to receive your salary only in bitcoin, since later it will be difficult for you to cash dollars in Kazakhstan, or in another country of the same CIS.
America is now the most advanced country in the world; I personally became convinced of this when I moved here three years ago. Now, working at Altima Corporation, I am a programmer. We program cars; you probably know that at the moment the most popular cars in the world are cars made by Tesla. In connection with this I would advise you to visit the Tesla theme park in California. There you can ride the wheel-less Tesla GTX models absolutely free; soon they will go into mass production and be available worldwide.
The world around us is changing, and values are too. Nowadays material values are not important in the world; what matters is a person's inner wealth — more precisely, the mind. Since our planet is in such a state that there is no time to think about what will be now, one must think about what will be in the future. The world needs people who will develop new technologies to replace outdated technologies that excessively harm our world. Earth's resources are not infinite, you understand that yourself. If you think that you can also make your contribution, you can write to me after graduating from university. Well, just a note.
May the experience you gain in the USA remain long in your memory.