"This is my new home."

The International Youth Festival has ended in Yekaterinburg. In a few days, it gathered 10,000 participants, half of whom were foreigners. The closing ceremony of the "Voices of the World's Youth" became a spectacular point for the international gathering of young generations. Here, thousands of participants could really prove themselves: not only to reveal their professional skills, but also to demonstrate their cultural identity. For some, the MFM turned out to be an opportunity to see Russia without the usual stereotypes, others are already planning to build their future careers here, and someone now considers the country a new home. What has changed for foreign guests in a few days and why some are ready to return — in the "Izvestia" material.

"We live a week in a day"

On the evening of September 16, the first pavilion of "Yekaterinburg-Expo" was a real pandemonium. A huge queue of participants from the International Youth Festival stretched right in front of the entrance — the closing ceremony of IFM-2026 was beginning.

"Beautiful Far" became one of the main numbers of the evening, called "Voices of the Youth of the World", which was performed by a thousand choir of students from children's art schools in the Sverdlovsk region in several languages. The atmosphere was joyful and sad at the same time, as was the song itself. On the eve of departure, someone played folk instruments: for example, the guys from India performed their compositions to the approving roar of the crowd. Someone exchanged elements of national clothes. Africans in earflaps appeared here and there — they really liked them. Almost all the foreigners went to the merch of the festival and took an armful of gifts with them.

On the closing day, there were still a lot of people all over the "Expo": no one left until the very end. The futuristic "Alabuga Polytechnic" booth attracted the most attention: here you could charge your phone, drink coffee for free, and snap a photo booth. But this is not the main content of the stand: inside it was possible to ride radio-controlled cars. A young guy named Lyosha helped the guests here.

— Foreigners come every two minutes. I can hardly breathe. But I'm happy with everything," he told us.

Lyosha is 19 years old. A few years ago, he was completely frivolous about studying. As a result, it didn't work out where he expected to go, but at the Polytechnic they gave him a chance to try his hand at a new profession. A year later, Alexey, according to him, became much more responsible and suddenly realized that he wanted to connect his life with teaching.

— I didn't think that I wanted to be a teacher, but I decided to take a chance and go to international pedagogy. A year later, I am much more responsible. I am very glad that I got here," he said.

At that moment, several Africans approached him again, who tried to ask in broken English how to turn on the remote control. Alexey apologized and left to help. And very close by, two Armenian girls with a flag on their backs were photographed in the company of cheerful Brazilians. They didn't want to leave at all.

— We live a week in a day. It already feels like we've been here for a month, because there's so much going on, so many people, so many emotions. Everyone is already family, smiling, laughing. It is very sad to realize that literally tomorrow or the day after tomorrow we are already leaving," Manan said.

For her friend Yulia, one of the highlights was Akmal's concert. The choice of artists here is also not accidental. The young man became famous in 2018 at the age of just 14. "I have seen for the umpteenth time that the youth festival fulfills dreams. Today my dream came true — Akmal's concert. Just an explosion of emotions in a few days," she shared.

"I have never seen such an event here before"

A rapid stream of people soon brought us to the stand of the Higher School of Economics with a mock-up of the lunar station of the International Space Games. He was examined very carefully by three Pakistanis. Humble admitted that before his arrival he had a completely different idea of Russians, but here he saw very friendly and helpful people. He would come here again.

His friend Anas was most impressed by the very organization of the festival. "According to him, he did not expect such a scale and was especially surprised by the work of the volunteers who actually provided the work of the entire Expo." And their friend Maaz is already making much more far-reaching plans. He has also changed his mind about Russia and is now even considering moving.

In another pavilion, we met a group of three people again, this time from Lebanon. They were just standing in line for a free ice latte and trying to get out of the crowd. One of them, an Alaa student, has been living in Russia for five years and is studying to become a doctor.

— This is not my first meeting with the country, but I have never seen such an event here before. Russia was forbidden to display its flag at international events, but Russia did the opposite here: each country can display its own flag. It's amazing," he said.

His friend Kristina said that before her trip to Russia, she had largely perceived the country through negative publications in the Western media. However, what she saw in Yekaterinburg surprised her. At that moment, Khadir busily joined the dialogue, who continued her thought.

— In the Western media, Russia is often portrayed through violence and aggression. But when we arrived here, we saw the hospitality — the exact opposite of the stereotypes we had encountered before. It was amazing. We really liked Russia — the atmosphere, the culture, the people, the way everything connects here," he said.

This is not the first time that Moroccan Tariq has been to Russia, and he has already warmed to it.

"Every time I meet new people in Russia, I become more and more convinced that Russians and Moroccans are very similar in hospitality, friendship, and kindness," he said.

The Moroccan citizen is already thinking about finding a job as a photographer or videographer here one day and staying longer.

— I come here about twice a year and discover something new every time. And at the end of the trip it always gets sad. I think: why am I coming home? This is my new home," Tariq said.

By evening, everyone began to flock to the first pavilion again — the festival was coming to an end. In a few days, he allowed foreign participants to see Russia with their own eyes, rather than through media publications. At the same time, this year's IFM has also become a professional platform for them, which allowed people from different fields to meet, exchange contacts and even discuss joint projects — this is probably the most important outcome of the entire festival.

Moreover, for some of the participants, the trip does not end there. On September 17, about 1,000 foreigners will travel to Russia: They will have 33 routes across 35 regions, as well as trips to "Sirius", Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

But in the end, the participants will leave for their countries. For some, Yekaterinburg has become only the first point of acquaintance with our country, for others it is a reason to return again. As Tariq said, it's getting harder for him to go home every time. Perhaps this is so, because there is already more than one house for him.