The next month and a half were tense to the limit. I gave my all to my studies. All session assignments were completed in record time, the most complex coursework project on spacecraft design was finished in less than a week, and my diploma triptych in painting was completed and pleased the eye with its flawlessness. There was no longer any talk of improving my guitar skills. Kiryusha tried his best with his studies and even more, but the parallel recording of the debut album and mixing the songs for the band "Normaľno!", in which, strangely enough, he participated almost alone, left a clear mark on his physical inability to submit some subjects on time. Alexandra Kulishova (our faithful friend and companion to the USA) also tried as hard as she could. This time, we all bought tickets to Moscow together for May 16th. We were hastily discussing and thinking about taking things and food for the road. Two days before departure, Zhenya gathered us at the "Laplandia" cafe and handed out passports, visas, and bus tickets to Myrtle Beach and plane tickets. That is, plane tickets... The flight turned out to be a transit one. Moscow-Stockholm-Philadelphia-New York. This alarmed and even discouraged me quite a bit. Having not the slightest experience in such travels, doubts began to torment me regarding the possibility of not getting to the States at all. Having assured each other that everything would be fine, Kiryusha and I calmly finished our remaining business. May 16th turned out to be a truly nervous day. Running around the city, commotion, and even panic (all on my part). A heart-wrenching farewell to my mom, when the mere thought of a 4.5-month separation made my blood run cold... All of Kiryusha's friends, who had quietly gathered in the room to about 20 people, came to see him off. Kiryusha's dad, as well as his mom and grandmother, drove us to the station. At the station, we met Sasha, Zhenya, and Dima. Occupying an entire compartment as a friendly group, we smoothly departed from the dirty, annoying shores of Krasnoyarsk, waving goodbye to everyone. Something unforgettable, mysterious, and still very distant awaited each of us, and the thoughts of the five guys were directed toward something known only to them, joyful and exciting.

The 2.5-day journey did not seem exhausting to them, because no one even thought about being bored. On the contrary, noisy chatter filled the carriage of the "Yenisei" train from morning till night. There were funny operettas, concerts, games, songs, charades. We arrived in Moscow at 8 a.m. on the 19th. We needed to hang around for about a day, as the flight to Stockholm was on the morning of the 20th. While still on the train, we planned to go to the "Universitetskaya" hotel, near Moscow State University, for the purpose of cleaning up, resting, and a small further excursion around the capital. Dmitry was warmly met by his Moscow friends and quickly whisked away, apparently to some very expensive nightclub. Left as the four of us, we wandered away from Yaroslavsky Station toward the metro. It turned out to be nearby, and, having entered, we plunged into an underground anthill. Recalling my sad experience of 1993, when I, having decided to collect beautiful yellow tokens, did not drop mine after my mother's, and the terrible levers hit my ribs painfully, I began to scan for ticket counters with tokens. To my regret, the tokens had been replaced by ugly cardboard cards, and, scolded for stupidity by the dog-cashier, I still managed to get 4 cards for 19 rubles each.

Next, we begin to descend into the devil's womb, pushed and scolded by underground beasts and vile chimeras. In the devil's lair, crowds of all sorts of unseen creatures rage in hasty dances, ready at any moment to trample, devour, and abuse an innocent and pure-souled provincial. Moscow Metro, you will remain Satan's purgatory forever, until you devour yourself. Having emerged into God's light, we transfer to a small yellow bus-car. With some difficulty, we found the necessary hotel. A single room in this abode cost 4000 wooden ones... "And as long as I could see them, they walked with uncovered heads".... Having achieved nothing, the four wanderers dejectedly threw their remains at the bus station, wanting nothing more than a crust of bread and kvass. They purchased this at the nearest shop from the innkeeper and, having satisfied their hunger, wandered to Count Sheremetev to bow. Having caught a cabman, they were forced to plunge again into the dragon's throat to ride the ring of death and transfer to a chariot to the Red River station. Having climbed out once again, they saw a huge crowd of the doomed and suffering, wishing to get into a tiny carriage running to Sheremetev's domains. Knowing that another carriage, more spacious and cheaper, stops somewhere, the four set off in search. They saw many carriages, but they were all not the right ones. Despairing, they think of standing in that crowd. But then they saw those very large buses and rushed straight to them, to the other side of the street. Having taken comfortable seats and arranged their bulky luggage, they set off for the airport.

And so, we found ourselves at Sheremetyevo-2. We left everything unnecessary in the luggage storage and went to explore the airport. First of all, we needed to have a bite to eat. Finding everything necessary in a small grocery store, we settled comfortably at a small round table, laying out all our provisions. When, at the end of the meal, four stomachs were purring gratefully, a furious woman runs up to the table and suggests we leave, because among all our food, you see, there is nothing bought in her cafe, to which the round tables belong. Showing ingenuity, Sasha parts with 80 rubles and places a tiny bottle of Coca-Cola in the middle of the table. But for the furious woman, apparently, this was not enough. Growling that this is not a canteen, she almost exploded in a fit of rage. Taking pity on her, we cleaned up after ourselves and calmly departed, for our meal had long since ended.

Not wanting to see the capital anymore, we wandered around the airport for a day, charging Kiryusha's phone-comp right on the floor, since there was, naturally, nowhere to sit, washed our heads, ate, slept, and even ended up in the police (the charging battery was mistaken for an explosive device). In general, my dear Reader, not wanting to dwell on the vile airport anymore, I will hurry to the cherished goal.

Around 5 a.m. on May 20th, 2 girls from our group appear, and it turns out that Sasha is not flying with us to Stockholm at 8:50, but with these girls to Zurich at 6:30. We did not expect such a trick. Feverishly shaking out the tickets, Kiryusha and I sigh with relief: thank the Lord they are on the same flight. Zhenya's too. To be honest, I was worried about Sasha. They were the first to go to check-in. Our turn came. We stood at the counter for a long time because, as always, something broke and they couldn't process us. After worrying quite a bit, they finally processed our luggage and boarding passes. I was traveling with only a backpack. Having passed registration, we entered another zone, where crowds of foreigners in various, previously unseen national costumes bustle about. All around are colorful shops with fabulous prices and unnecessary stereotypical Russian souvenirs. Seeing Sasha passing some inspection with a lot of people, we rushed there too, deciding that we definitely needed to go through this too. We took off our shoes, took off our belts, took out our phones, then put everything back in its place... Having found ourselves in the waiting room, we saw Sasha off to boarding and agreed to meet her at the bus station in New York. Then we calmly waited for our flight announcement, but for some reason, it wasn't there. Interested in what a Gate is, I looked at our boarding passes... The number of our Gate was completely different, and registration for our flight had been going on for a long time, and maybe it had even ended!!! We were like doused with boiling water. Jumping out of the hall, we ran so fast that all the foreigners shied away from us. Red, wet, barely breathing, we were forced to go through exhausting control again, where no one cares that people are late and have already gone through all this. Doing all the operations at the speed of light, we thought only of one thing: just don't be late. We were indeed the last ones. But we made it after all...