Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of the spring season, the Upper Iowa Athletics Department is spending the next few months spotlighting many of our Peacock student-athletes whose spring seasons came to a premature end.
 
In today's virtual interview, Pete the Peacock gets to know UIU tennis' Varvara Ogorodnikova. Varvara is a freshman who came to Fayette from Samara, Russia. She is majoring in software engineering.

PETE: What made you want to be a collegiate student-athlete?        
VARVARA: An opportunity to combine playing my favorite sport and studying

PETE: What have you learned about what it takes to be a student-athlete?          
VARVARA: It requires you to be punctual, responsible and able to work in a team

PETE: What is your favorite way to de-stress?      
VARVARA: Listening to music or hanging out with friends

PETE: What advice would you give to your 14-year old self?   
VARVARA: To not to be so shy and work harder on the court

PETE: What is your favorite thing about Fayette?
VARVARA: I love the nature and people

PETE: What's the best thing that has happened to you in the last month? 
VARVARA: I came back to Russia recently and met with my family

PETE: What is your dream job if money wasn't a factor? Why?          
VARVARA: To be a traveler and to work in a wild nature with animals

PETE: Who are three people (dead or alive) you'd love to have dinner with? Why?       
VARVARA: My granddad, as he went through the WW2 and I really want to hear his story. Another person would be Marina Abramovic, as she is one of the greatest performance artists of our decade. And the last person would be Kazimir Malevich- the most famous avant-garde artist in the world. I would ask him about his Suprematism technique and the idea he put in the "Black square" painting.

PETE: What fictional character (movie, TV show, book, cartoon, etc.) would you want to be for a day? Why?     
VARVARA: I would like to be a Raskolnikov from F. Dostoevsky novel "Crime and Punishment". He is a really controversial character.

PETE: What is your favorite home cooked meal? 
VARVARA: I love buckwheat with Kiev cutlet , cooked by my mom

PETE: Do you have any collections? If so, what?  
VARVARA: I have a collection of magnets from all over the world. It takes up a whole wall in my room.

PETE: Do you believe in aliens or ghosts? If yes, why?   
VARVARA: I think that there is something, which we cannot see or mention

PETE: What is your dream vacation spot? Why? What would you want to do there?     
VARVARA: I would like to go to Crete, but I mostly want to go to Tibet and climb on Mount Everest. I think that it is one of the greatest experiences in the world.

PETE: If you were president for a day, what would you change?        
VARVARA: I will try to make the medical and educational aspects cheaper

PETE: What is your favorite restaurant in the world? What do you order? 
VARVARA: I love Panda Express. I always order noodles with orange chicken and honey shrimps there

PETE: What does your dream life after retirement look like?  
VARVARA: Leaving on the shore

PETE: What is your favorite non-sport hobby?     
VARVARA: Taking photos

PETE: What are three things you cannot live without? Why?  
VARVARA: Music, as I listen to it every free second. Iced coffee, as it is the best drink in the world to me. My family and friends, as without them I will have no reason to live

PETE: Where or who do you get your inspiration from?
VARVARA: I get my inspiration from my father. He won the Mister Universe title and many others during his bodybuilding career and has worked extremely hard to achieve it. I'm really proud to have such a father!

PETE: If you could sing a duet with someone, who would it be? What song?        
VARVARA: It would be Queen and the song "Bohemian Rhapsody"

PETE: What was your first job?          
VARVARA: I was an umpire for a tennis tournament

PETE: What is the priciest thing you've ever splurged on?        
VARVARA: I bought a winter boots for a lot of money, but they were extremely comfortable

PETE: Do you have a secret talent?   
VARVARA: I can stay in water and swim for hours without getting tired

PETE: If your life was a song, what would the title be?  
VARVARA: "Ain't no mountain high enough" by Marvin Gaye

PETE: If you had a podcast, what would it be about?     
VARVARA: Modern art and hip-hop singers

PETE: What category would you own in a trivia competition?
VARVARA: Avant-garde and post-modern art, or Russian history

PETE: Who would your dream co-star be in a movie?    
VARVARA: Michael Fassbender

PETE: What would you bring on a one-way trip to Mars?         
VARVARA: My Polaroid camera
                                              
Special thanks to Varvara for taking the time to chat with Pete! To view previous virtual interviews, please click here.