When Malina Virtejanu first visited Northern Ireland almost six years ago on a city break, within just a few months she would be calling the place her new home.
Hailing from the Romanian capital Bucharest, Malina, 38, came to Belfast in July 2016 and now she heads up an organisation offering advice and support to others who have chosen to make the move here.
In recent years Northern Ireland has witnessed a rapid diversification of its usually resident population, which has included a growing number of people from Romania, who began arriving here shortly after the country's accession to the EU in 2007.
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"I was doing several city breaks a year around Europe and wanted to do something very different so I took the decision to come to Belfast," Malina told Belfast Live.
"People were very nice and I went to all the big tourist sites. At the time things weren't going well in my personal life back in Romania so I took the decision to move somewhere in Europe.
"I considered a couple of options and after visiting Northern Ireland it became an option too. At the time I was a single mother with three children, all of similar ages.
"I also had some health issues and developed asthma because of the pollution in Bucharest. When I came to Belfast I could actually breathe and also no longer had panic attacks.
"It was a smaller town too than where I came from so I thought life might be easier, especially in terms of commuting as I wasn't driving at the time."
In early 2017, Malina moved her whole life from Bucharest to a new beginning in Belfast.
"It wasn't that easy, even if you have enough knowledge and can join all the dots together. It was a huge challenge to get a house and initially I didn't move my children over with me until I had that secured.
"I came here with no friends or relatives as a tourist and ended up becoming a local person," she explained.
In January 2014, a change came into effect which gave Romanian and Bulgarian nationals the same rights to live and work in the UK as other EEA nationals.
During 2014 and 2015 migration from Romania rose substantially, with around 1,000 members of the community thought to be living in Northern Ireland at that time, mainly in South Belfast.
But while the greatest concentration of families is thought to be located in Belfast, there are also communities in other areas including Newtownabbey, Newtownards, Comber, Ballymena, Armagh and Portadown.
Her own personal experience of making the move here and the challenges she faced prompted Malina to establish the Belfast Intercultural Romanian Community.
"The main reason was the fact that I had different difficulties in trying to understand and manage the system. I had to learn the hard way," she said.
"I also found that we had no support here in our language as there is no Consulate so if you want to address any issues you need to go to Edinburgh or London rather than Dublin.
"I knew of many different organisations in Dublin who were doing activities but there was nothing here in Belfast. I took the decision to start up on my own in order to educate people about having access to the right information and free support from those who are qualified to offer it."
The Belfast Intercultural Romanian Community was established in December 2018 and now supports over 3,500 people.
Members are also involved in international football tournaments made up of players who have come to Northern Ireland in recent years and made it their home.
Recently, Malina and the group have also been helping to support those impacted by the war in Ukraine.
"I started from nothing but now I am one of the main community people that you will get in contact with for different aspects of life here, whether as a newcomer or settled person," Malina said.
"I have seen a transition in the last five years of the new people coming here from our own community and the difference, particularly in terms of more skilled and professional people.
"When you move to a new place, you need to integrate and make a bit of effort. You don't need to be isolated but it depends very much on you.
"I came here as a single mother with three kids, which might seem impossible to some, but I was able to communicate with people while for others it's not the same. My experience was good, it was just the first year that was difficult," she added.
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