Packing guidance
Your 23 kg case must contain everything you wish to retain for the remainder of your life. The Programme recommends packing for permanence rather than comfort, as comfort is temporary but possessions are finite.
Recommended
- Thermal undergarments (as many as space permits)
- One photograph of your former life
- Writing materials (one letter per month)
- A sturdy toothbrush (replacements are issued annually)
- Seeds from your garden (the soil is fertile, if frozen)
- A book (the retreat library contains two books, both in Russian)
- Warm socks (this cannot be overstated)
Prohibited
- Portable heaters (fire risk in timber dormitories)
- Satellite phones (signal unavailable, confiscation certain)
- Maps (departure routes are not modelled)
- GPS devices (see above)
- More than one photograph of your former life (the weight allowance is strict and sentiment has mass)
- Anything requiring electricity (the generator runs three hours per evening)
- Musical instruments larger than a recorder (space constraints)
A comprehensive packing checklist is available here. The checklist is 14 pages long and includes a section on "emotional preparation" which the Institute has described as "outside its remit but included for completeness." The Institute wishes to clarify that the removal of "optimism" from the recommended items list in Revision 4 was a considered decision.
Your journey
The Programme's transportation logistics have been modelled on two primary modalities: chartered air via Moscow/Sheremetyevo and rail via the Channel Tunnel and Trans-Siberian corridor. A hybrid approach yields the most favourable cost profile.
Report to your designated departure point at the time specified in your acceptance letter. Luggage will be weighed. Items exceeding 23 kg will be removed and donated to charity. There will be no negotiation. Bring a packed lunch.
Chartered air or rail, depending on tranche allocation. In-transit catering is provided. The menu rotates between root vegetable stew, root vegetable soup, and what the catering team describes as "root vegetable innovation." Medical support is available throughout.
Rail passengers will traverse the Trans-Siberian corridor. The landscape outside your window will change from temperate to boreal to vast. Then vaster. Then vaster still. The Hadrian Institute has found that passengers who spend longer in transit arrive at their retreat with "a more settled disposition."
Transfer to overland transport. Roads become tracks. Tracks become clearings. Clearings become forest. At some point the vehicle stops and you are helped out. The air is very clean and very cold. Someone hands you a blanket and points towards a wooden building. This is your retreat.
A light supper will be served. You will be shown to your dormitory. You will meet the other residents. You will be given your winter clothing, your duty roster (if applicable), and a small card with the rules of the retreat printed on it in both English and Russian. The card is laminated. It will last longer than most personal effects.
Climate preparation
The Hadrian Institute recommends that prospective residents begin acclimatisation in the months before departure. The following regime has been found to reduce the incidence of "thermal shock" by up to 14%:
- Open a window in October and do not close it until March
- Replace your duvet with a single woollen blanket
- Stand in your garden at dawn, motionless, for gradually increasing durations
- Eat all meals outdoors from November onwards
- Visit B&Q and stand in the timber aisle for two hours, breathing deeply
The Programme does not accept liability for hypothermia contracted during preparatory acclimatisation. The Hadrian Institute's guidance is advisory only. If you become unwell while standing motionless in your garden, the Institute recommends going indoors and trying again tomorrow.
What to expect on your first day
Morning
Arrival processing. You will be registered, photographed (weather permitting), and shown to your dormitory. Fresh linen is provided on your first day only. The photograph is for administrative purposes and will not be sent to your next of kin within any specific timeframe. You will be asked to confirm your name, your next of kin, and that you have not brought any prohibited items. This is a formality. Your case has already been searched.
Afternoon
Orientation tour. A retreat staff member will show you the dining hall, the medical station, the workshop facilities, and the perimeter. The orientation takes approximately 45 minutes. You will notice that the forest is very quiet. This is normal. It will remain quiet. The staff member will not walk you to the perimeter. They will point to it from a distance and then suggest returning to the dormitory for tea.
Evening
A light supper, followed by an introduction to your fellow residents. Evening activities may include group singing, quiet contemplation of the taiga, or sitting in the dormitory wondering what the children are doing. The retreat does not receive television signals. The Hadrian Institute considers this beneficial to the contemplative lifestyle the Programme promotes.
Residents who arrived during the initial tranche have described their first evening in various ways. Margaret, 74, said: "I looked out of the window and there was nothing. Nothing as far as I could see. I had never seen so much nothing. It was the most peaceful nothing I have ever experienced." Derek, 81, said: "I asked what time dinner was and they said six. I asked what we did until six and they said we wait. I have been waiting ever since."
Essential phrases
The following phrases may prove useful during your first weeks. Retreat staff speak English but some basic Russian phrases are provided for use in emergencies or when asking for more root vegetables.
- Gde nakhoditsa tualet? — Where is the toilet?
- Ya ne mogu chuvstvovat svoi pal'tsy — I cannot feel my fingers
- Eshcho ovoshchi, pozhaluysta — More vegetables, please
- Kogda zakanchivayetsya zimа? — When does winter end?
- V etom lesu ochen' tikho — This forest is very quiet
The Programme's Russian language module comprises six hours of audio recordings, provided on cassette tape. If you do not own a cassette player, one may be available from the retreat's communal electronics box. The communal electronics box contains one cassette player, two torches with dead batteries, and a radio that receives a single station playing what residents describe as "upbeat Russian music at unusual hours."