My first winter in Austria was lonely and harsh. I had just moved from Plovdiv, Bulgaria to Vienna at 18, and suddenly I was in a city where I knew no one, where the language around me felt foreign despite speaking it, and where the days turned gray and cold very quickly. Back in 2019, Vienna didn’t yet have as many organized spaces for international students to connect. That silence – that gap – became impossible for my heart to ignore. And it cracked something open in me: If there were no opportunities for international students to make friends, then I would create them myself.
The University of Vienna became the stage where that mission took shape. I joined The International Society UniVie and met incredible human beings, like my fellow core committee members Shefali, Kristin, Sanjida, Anna and Gizem. Together, we organized powerful events where international students could gather, laugh, and exchange their life experiences and how they feel in a new city. For someone arriving in a foreign country, those evenings often meant everything. They were proof you didn’t have to face the challenge alone.
From there, it grew. I joined numerous expat platforms, hosted travelers and fellow internationals in my student apartment, and opened my door to people who, like me, were searching for connection. I organized meet-ups for expats and eventually became Partnerships Manager for the Erasmus Student Network. Through these roles, I wasn’t just networking, I was fulfilling my soul’s goal – I was creating circles where people felt that they belonged.
Over the years, I watched strangers shake hands at one of our events and later become best friends. I saw students who once felt isolated, suddenly feel at home in a city that can be overwhelming at first. And every time I witnessed that transformation, I felt the same quiet truth: this was my real work.
That, to me, is my greatest achievement. Not graduating with Distinction in B.A. Mass Media and Communication Sciences. Not representing the University of Vienna all the way in Australia. Not even working for the marketing team at Erste Bank, or finishing my Master’s degree. My biggest accomplishment is the community I’ve built along the way – being the reason people met, fell into conversation, and found the friendships that sustained them and brought them a sense of belonging.
Universities are often measured by their rankings, their programs, their research output. But behind all of that, a university is also the people who pass through it. For me, the University of Vienna became more than a place to study; it became the place where I learned the most essential lesson of all: people are life. And creating spaces where people can find each other is what gives me the deepest sense of fulfillment. – Ivelina Mitreva
Ivelina studied Mass Media and Communication Sciences at the University of Vienna.
