Andrey was ready for this flight to be over. It had already been nine hours of sleep, simple snacks, a little reading and boring films. He was flying from his home in Moscow, Russia to New York City to compete on American reality television show, Project Runway. Andrey has always shown much personality through his style, but the past few years his love and dedication for fashion designing has grown extremely. His friends and family have finally persuaded him to come to America and pursue his dream.

Once Andrey’s plane finally landed at the JFK International Airport, he gathered his carry-on things and went to collect his other bags and suitcase. He left the airport as quickly as possible, excited to start his new American city life. On the short trip to downtown New York, Andrey took the time to get a hold of his family back home and let them know he made it safely and that he may be too busy to communicate during the next couple months. They were happy for him and wished him good luck before hanging up.

After walking through the city for a couple hours, Andrey decided it was time to find Atlas New York, the apartment he would be sharing with the other Project Runway Season 3 contestants. He had no idea what it would be like to share an apartment with people he didn’t know, especially Americans. The way they lived had to be so much different from him, but he was up for an experience.

After meeting the other contestants, Andrey really didn’t find them that bad. Sure, they had their differences, but nothing he couldn’t deal with for the duration of the show. He might have even met his new best friend, Stacey, who also works as an elephant pedicurist. Along with her aberrant extra career, she has a very unique personality. Right away it is obvious that Andrey and Stacey are going to be really good friends.

The first week of the competition was very stressful for not only Andrey, but everyone. Even the contestants who have been designing for years had trouble adjusting to the short work time. Three were already sent home, one of them including Stacey. Andrey was crushed, they had become close in the first couple days. She was just not as dedicated to designing as many of the contestants were, which had shown through her work. Although she would not be there to support Andrey, their friendship is not gone. Stacey said her goodbyes, wished Andrey good luck and promised they would see each other again.

The remainder of Season 3 went by in a blur for Andrey. Everyday he worked his hardest, making sure everything about a design was just how he wanted it and his determination was shown through. He never had any major problems with the other contestants or the challenges, he tried to keep to himself and get things done. Every round he had gotten good feedback from the judges, if not great, which was a rare thing to see on this contest. They loved him and his creativity, especially his koala inspired outfit for the Fur Challenge. Everyone talked about that design so much he decided to base his final challenge collection on it.
For the final challenge, the contestants are normally given twelve weeks to go back home and work on their collections that will be shown and judged at New York Fashion Week. Now Andrey is forced to find his own home and work area. He comes up with the idea to call Stacey, who lives less than an hour away in New Jersey. She is more than happy to let him stay there for the remainder of the competition. Andrey gathers his belongings once more and prepares to move the next morning.
For the next three months Andrey worked diligently on his koala inspired collection. With only a few minor problems along the way, it was coming along nicely. Since the rules state that the contestants are allowed no outside help, Stacey only watched over and gave her opinions. She kept Andrey focused and talked to him so that he wouldn’t get too stressed out. It was a long process, added on to all of the work he had done already for the show. He kept his determination and was finally adding the finishing touches to what he hoped would get him $100,000 and a feature in Elle magazine.
The day soon came, and Stacey came along to Bryant Park for the show. When they arrived Andrey frantically checked all of his designs and models to make sure they looked like what he wanted them to. Stacey had gone to converse with the other contestants that had been sent home. The show had come before they knew it and it was time to get Andrey’s models lined up for the runway.

When Stacey saw Andrey’s collection all together on the runway, she couldn’t be more proud of her best friend. The models were perfect for the unique line, and everything fit perfectly. Since the other two contestants had gone already, she could compare the competition Andrey was up against. Although she thought the others were very creative, she didn’t think they met the standards of his Koala Fierce collection. Stacey was confident that Andrey could win this.

When Andrey’s name was announced as the winner, he was ecstatic. All of his hard work had finally paid off, and he was ready to spend the rest of his life doing something he loved. Not only would he get to continue his designing career, but he had won a feature in Elle magazine and $100,000 to help him get started. Although Andrey was super thankful for what he had won, there was one certain thing he would like to have. His interest in them had grown throughout the Project Runway process, and he thought it would be a great idea to have one. That’s right, Andrey wanted a real life koala bear, and a koala bear is what he shall get.

The day after the big fashion show Andrey decided to start by finding his own apartment. Stacey was nice enough to let him stay with her until the contest was over, he didn’t want to be a bother by staying any longer. It wasn’t until early that evening when he came across a place he could stay in for a while. It had enough room to start his design work until he found somewhere to create his own studio. Most importantly, the apartment building was one of the few in the city that permitted pets, in case Andrey got the koala he wanted so badly.

After accepting the price of the apartment and settling in, Andrey decided to start looking up possible people and places to buy a pet koala. Since koalas are not American animals, finding them was not the easiest job. He wondered if Stacey would have any contacts, since she did travel around to treat elephants. Andrey figured it was worth a shot and called her up.

It turns out that Stacey’s cousin Cleopatra is a whale trainer, which means she has traveled the ocean a few times. She has made it all the way to Australia at one point, and took the time to watch the koalas herself. The guy she stayed with had given her his information in case she ever needed to get a hold of him. This was great, Andrey might be able to get his koala.

After many phone calls between Andrey, Stacey, Cleopatra and the Australian man (whose name was Will), it was arranged for him to finally receive his koala on July 23. Cleopatra has been working on the west coast and cannot take the time off to travel to Australia. Thankfully, Will offered to make the trip. That way, he would be able to meet Stacey and Andrey in person.

Days passed and it was finally the day before Will’s arrival. Andrey was over-excited to finally get what he wanted, even though he had already won Project Runway. That was what Stacey did not understand. She was happy for Andrey and wanted to help him in any way she could, but he had won a reality television show for goodness sake! Why wasn’t that good enough for him? Even though she doesn’t understand why he had been acting so selfish and stuck-up, she was a good friend, supporting and helping him throughout the whole koala situation.

The first day with the koala was good for Andrey, and after learning its personality, decided to name it Arthur. It did not seem like a happy koala, maybe that was an effect of bringing it to a whole new environment. A big city like New York is not exactly an ideal habitat for a koala. In addition to Arthur’s dullness, him and Andrey never really formed the bond that Andrey had hoped for.

Andrey might have thought it was a good idea to get a pet koala, but really he was just asking for more than what he already had. The koala soon died from starvation because it did not have eucalyptus leaves like it did back home in Australia. This broke both Andrey and Will’s heart, but that also brought them closer together. Andrey realized that this whole time, he had been asking for something he didn’t really need. He had won Project Runway, something many other people have dreamed of. Instead of being thankful for the things he had, he went right ahead and demanded something new. But witnessing the death of his own pet koala only a few days after getting it finally made him realize that it wasn’t something he really needed.