Varya is the oldest in her family. She has a younger brother and sister. Her dream is to be a veterinarian. Two years ago Varya finished high school and entered a veterinarian school in another city. She loves her classes, and at the end of the semester her father gave her a laptop for excellent grades.

Varya was born and raised in a small village where the nearest town was half an hour away by bus, and Moscow an hour and a half by commuter train. For small town teenagers there usually isn’t a whole lot to do, but Varya was lucky. Around ten years ago a businessman from Moscow built a small hotel nearby with a sixteen-horse stable for himself and his guests. He allowed the neighborhood children to help care for the horses and take riding lessons for free. Most of the kids gradually lost interest, but Varya and her younger brother have been working part-time at the stables, practicing riding and show jumping with the local trainers for many years.

Now that it’s summer, Varya is home for break. She got a job at the hotel, and rides in her free time. She lives with another young woman in a small room, which, like the other staff housing, is right above the stable. The room has everything one could need: a bathroom, TV, and Internet. Varya works for most of the day, and at night she hangs out with friends or spends time in the stable. She usually doesn’t return to her room until late at night.

Translated by Peter Sisson, Abigail Preston, Maxim Demidov, and Chase Philpot