Dimitrina — the fighting spirit with the softness of a woman
It is 16:29 on a Friday afternoon when Dimitrina Pashóva goes to the ABF cafe. She takes her milk with cocoa and greets some friends of hers with contagious enthusiasm. Then she sits comfortably and with that same enthusiasm, she starts explaining the history of her family name, which means a rich landowner.
But Dimitrina’s interesting background does not finish with just her unique family name. “From the day you were born until the rest of your life you will pass through a lot of hardships and your life will be full of hard decisions and situations. This is how the life of those born on Good Friday is destined to be like,” some granny said to Dimitrina at some monastery when she was in sixth grade.
Having been through very weird situations and challenging tasks, Dimitrina believes the superstition she was attached to by the granny is true. While Dimitrina’s eyes are fixed on the hot cup of cocoa, she shares, “when I was little, no one was there to take care of me, everyone was working, and I had to be on my own.” But although she found it hard back then, she truly believes in the power of family because as she says, “the thing was that we always ended up being together. If my mom calls me in ten minutes and says that she has a problem and I need to go home, I am just going.”
But growing up in such environment, Dimitrina explains with a lot of gestures that she has developed a very different thinking and mindset, especially from her parents’, who as she says “were part of this big system and are just coming from a very different time.” Her path has led her to her final year in AUBG from where she will graduate with two majors — Economics and Mathematics.
“What I remember is that Dimitrina was the first Mathematics major I knew so I was like wow! Some kind of a god is standing right there,” says Vladin Bonov, President of the Business Club, where Dimitrina is one of the vice-presidents. Vladin describes her as a girl with a really strong opinion but with good arguments to support what she thinks. He shares that Dimitrina is currently writing a senior thesis in Economics and Mathematics and is also a vice-president at another club — Model European Union, so she has a ton of responsibilities, but she is doing a great job handling everything.
“I was many things actually,” says Dimitrina, looking over her years at the University, “3 years in a row I was the student representative to the Math department, then last year — to the Board of Trustees and now a vice-president of two clubs”. She shares that she finds it very challenging to manage people. “You have to be really thoughtful of what you say and how you say it. There will always be people that do not like your ideas which means that you have to find a way to communicate with them as a team,” she says.
As a vice president, Dimitrina offers her advice towards future leaders of different clubs. “You need to show your team respect and that they are valuable assets so that when in two days you need their help, these people will be there. It is hard for real, but it is a very good training,” Dimitrina says.
She has had many responsibilities throughout the years but as she lies on the couch, she says, “I love AUBG because it gave me a new way of thinking, a new perspective on the person that I was and wanted to be and I am on the road of changing myself.” She shares that after her four years in the University she is ready to move on with something new.
Dimitrina says that she has always imagined herself being the CFO of a company, but she laughs about it because she knows that it does not start from there. Her plan is to gain experience as a financial analyst and then probably go back to school in order to get a Master’s degree in Business.
“But life is not only studying,” Dimitrina believes. For her one of the best investments is travelling. She made a promise with her best friends to travel every vacation time. “We went to Rome, Dublin, Madrid, this fall break we went to Paris, so we are constantly trying to go somewhere which is awesome,” she says while catching herself that she is daydreaming. Her wish is to go to Petra in Jordan, influenced by her favorite Indiana Jones movies where some scenes were shot in the same location.
Dimitrina straightens her back and leaves the thought of traveling to dive into something deeper. “It is all like — you have to do it, if you really want it”, she says with wondering eyes, ready to build up on her words. She shares that when she needs it, she finds her inspiration in a quote that has always stuck with her, “When you want to achieve something as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful.”
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Desislava Arnaudova studies Journalism and Mass Communication and Business Administration at AUBG. She puts high value on her family and likes taking up challenges and tasks just like Dimitrina.
