After months of waiting and planning in a few hours we will set off on a three day journey to Cherskiy, East Siberia. The packing process has been long and thought out. I must have weighed my bag about 20 times trying to make sure I was packing efficiently and only essentials. Sitting upstairs in my home staring at my luggage I am still trying to comprehend the fact that I am actually going to Siberia. My parents downstairs are coping with the idea in an entirely different way. I am still trying to find the words to make them less anxious, but they know I am participating in something that I love to do- learn about science. At 4:10pm when all the goodbyes are said and the engines of our plane take off, we will leave America in the rearview for something new and challenging. Our month stay overseas will no doubt be the highlight of many of our lives and undergraduate careers. This truly will be an experience that will open up new doors and change our view of what it means to be a field researcher. Being in the field is something that you cannot get in a typical classroom. This trip is an opportunity for us to use what we have spent years studying and to learn skills and techniques that we otherwise would not learn until graduate school. Now that I am about to head downstairs and say my final goodbyes, I only have really one concern: Where can I stuff two pounds of ground coffee?