On Monday, January 18, 2021, a unique one-week course for policy students focusing on security studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey in California, USA, began at the VR-1 training reactor. Students from Monterey have been coming to the reactor regularly since 2017. Over the course of two weeks, students of security studies learn the basics of the design and operation of nuclear reactors. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, this year's course is being held online, and during the week American students have the opportunity to experience experiments at least over the Internet. Due to the large time zone difference (nine hours), online experimental teaching begins every day at 6 pm and ends well after midnight.