Niya Manditsch
Niya Manditsch describes herself as witty, sometimes funny, shy and reflective. “I’d like to think I’m a creative person,” she says, “I don’t talk that much unless I have to talk. I think about stuff a lot, which is probably why I’m so quiet.”
Niya comes from a multicultural family — her mother is Bulgarian, and her father is British. She was born in Kuwait, where her parents had been working at the time. She also lived for a part of her life in China and Bulgaria. For the past 8 years, Niya resided in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“I was there [Hanoi] from middle to high school, and it is a very important time in your life — you really grow as a person, both in your academic and social lives. So I would say that the school in Hanoi was the one where I had the most interesting experiences and I really grew as a person,” she says.
During school years, Niya developed drawing and writing skills. She said that she was encouraged to use all kinds of media in her art classes. Last year she started drawing digitally. “To me at this point drawing is more like a hobby,” says Niya.
As for writing, she says she had always been good at English. However, up until middle school, she had only written assignments for classes. Then, Niya’s father gave her the idea to start running her own blog. The blog is still active, and Niya publishes film and book reviews. One movie she recommends is “Little Miss Sunshine,” which she says is a very feel-good and comfort movie.
In tenth grade, Niya found out about the American University in Bulgaria and thought it was an interesting place to study. She had been visiting Bulgaria for vacations, but she says that studying in Bulgaria would give her a chance to reconnect with her roots. Niya says: “For me it’s the aspect of being closer to my family as well.”
Niya is now a reporter at the AUBG Daily newspaper. “In my life I had never been a part of this kind of club before. And because of that I’ve never known how to write in that editorial, newspaper, website kind of style,” says Niya, “I think part of why I joined AUBG Daily was to push myself to write in a different style, to try something new.”
At the university, she is looking forward to expanding her horizons. Niya is excited to be writing about a topic that others will find interesting to read.
At the moment, she does not know what she would like to do in the long-run. “In terms of personal values, what I want to accomplish in life is to be content, be happy with what I’m doing, just live my life how I can. I’m not trying to be super successful like other people. As long as I’m fine, then I’m fine,” says Niya.
^^^
Darya Dolgopolova is a sophomore majoring in Journalism and Psychology at the American University in Bulgaria. She enjoyed writing this piece and looks forward to conducting future interviews.
