I arrived in Yekaterinburg on the Krasnoyarsk–Moscow express train on a cold morning on May 12th.)) While still on the train, I met some guys from the agency, but as it turned out later, their interviews were scheduled for 8:30 and 9:30, and mine was at 13:30. We got off the train together, entered the station building, checked our bags in the luggage storage, leaving only folders with documents, cash, and cell phones, and went for a walk around the city=)

At 6 a.m., naturally, everything was closed:) Eventually, we stumbled upon a 24-hour pub, though for some reason they didn't let us in (apparently we didn't look like their usual clientele;)), but they pointed us to a good bar nearby where we ordered breakfast (I ordered fried eggs with bacon (80 rubles) and green tea (40 rubles) – quite budget-friendly;)). Then, the guy whose interview was the only one in our group scheduled for 8:30 and I went to the consulate building.

The U.S. Consulate General is located at 15 Gogol Street in a four-story red brick building. However, it's not alone there; at the very least, the consulates of Great Britain and Bulgaria are located in the same building:) We approached the porch, over which the stars and stripes flag was flying, and began looking for four more people from our group. There were about 30 people, and about the same number arrived every hour. Everyone was scared and frozen=)

I spent 5 and a half hours at the consulate:) For no particular reason=) It was about +5 degrees. I helped watch the bags and observed. During this time, I saw a lot: people coming down from that porch with stone faces, with wide smiles, and with tears in their eyes (especially the girls) because of a refusal. My personal feeling was that the refusal rate was 40%. Now for the statistics: in the first group of 5 people, 5 were approved, in the second group of 10, 5 were approved, and in the third (the one I was in), out of nine, only two people were approved.

Actually, my interview started at 13:30:) Our group lined up in front of the porch in alphabetical order; we went inside 2 people at a time, at the signal of the police officer looking out from inside. You cannot bring anything into the consulate except documents in a folder or, better yet, a transparent file (including belts, lighters, change, flash drives, cell phones). However, regarding cell phones, we somehow made an arrangement and handed them over to security at the entrance; I went in fourth, so I don't know the details=)

So, a girl and I went in, handed over our Russian passports, went through the metal detector, our passport details were recorded in a log, they returned our passports and told us to go up to the fourth floor. There, we opened a glass door, presented our passports again, went through an even more sensitive detector, and found ourselves in a waiting room with many plastic chairs and beautiful photos of America=) The room has three booths separated from each other: the left and right ones are for interviews, the middle one is for fingerprinting.

The interview process is as follows: in the order of a live queue, the first participant (and then others) from any agency approaches the middle window, where their fingers are scanned, and a woman distributes the passports with DS-2019 forms between two consular officers, who then call people to their window via a loudspeaker. It's scaaary)))

They took my fingerprints (by the way, they didn't succeed right away, my hands were sweating from nervousness), and I'm standing there in front of these three windows, waiting to be called. The woman on the left is refusing (and the woman really has a lot of refusals!) a girl, she runs away in tears, and over the loudspeaker, I hear: “Alexander Neduzhko, window number 1.” Well, I think, that's it... my America is gone... But still, I straighten my shoulders, put a smile on my face, and walk to the window with a brisk step. Behind the glass sits not a monster, but a nice dark-haired woman of about 35. I say to her right away:

• “Hello! How are you today?”
• “I’m fine! Where are you going to work?”
• “I’m going to work at Palmetto Inn in Panama City Beach, Florida as maintenance. I will repair doors, locks, air-conditioners...”
• “Do you have maintenance experience?”
• “Yes I have. I worked at this position at Holiday Inn when I have been in the U.S. in previous time.”
  (I shove my old passport into the window)
• “Why did you decide change workplace?”
  (She looks at something on the computer)
• “I want to get new experience in other place, I think it will be very useful for me! I’ll be an engineer after graduation”
• “What kind of engineer?”
  (How to explain this simply)) Let it be..)
• “Energy!”
• “Nuclear?”
  (Well, now I have to go all the way!!)
• “Yeeees!!! (Yeah, right, a nuclear physicist=))) ) But I will be able to work in different fields: with hydro energy, thermal energy... I’m going to find a job as engineer at “RusAl”. Do you know this company? It’s the largest aluminium producer in the world! And it’s situated in my hometown.” I wish I really had such prospects=)
• “Good! Do you have credit card in US?”
  (Okaaay, here come the questions about financial fraud)
• “No, I haven’t, only debit”
• “How many accounts do you have in American banks?”
• “Only one, in the Bank of America”
• “Do you have American driver license?”
• “No, don’t”
• “What have you eaten at breakfast today?”
  (Yeah, unusual questions! And I remember what I ate=) )
• “Fried eggs with bacon, a cup of green tea and some bread”
  (And finally:) )
• “Have you read the pamphlet about your rights?”
• “Yes, I have.”
• “Any questions?”
• “No!”
• “Ok, your visa is approved! Have a good summer!”
• “Thank you! Have a good day!!!”

Visa in my pocket!!!!!!!!!!!)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I walked out into the waiting room just in shock, but then I grabbed my jacket and ran out into the street=)

I have a viiiiisaaaaaa=))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

All that's left is to buy tickets and pass my exams=)

Final stretch!