Last year, we launched TP Café with a simple idea: to meet people from the diaspora, sit around the same table, and talk without a formal agenda. We started in Austria, then continued our journey through the Netherlands, Switzerland and the Czech Republic, meeting people, listening to their experiences, and finding ways to stay connected with those building their lives outside Serbia.
This year, we continued with the same format. Vienna, Budapest, Milan and Hamburg were our destinations, and each city brought a different context and a new set of stories.
We first returned to Vienna, where it all began, this time meeting a whole new group of people. It reminded us that no two TP Cafés are ever the same, even when they take place in a city we have already visited. We were also guests of Serbian Professional Network Vienna, a community that brings together Serbian professionals in Vienna and, through regular gatherings, creates space for exchanging ideas, making new connections, and talking about the professional and personal experience of living in a different environment. It was an ideal setting to introduce the work of Returning Point and talk about the different ways people can stay connected with Serbia — whether they are just thinking about returning, have already made the move back, or simply want to contribute their knowledge and experience from another country.
Across these four cities, we encountered a wide range of individual circumstances. Some people left Serbia a long time ago, while others left relatively recently. Some have long since built their lives abroad, while others are still thinking about what their next destination might be. For some, Serbia has remained part of their everyday lives for years; for others, it is a place they return to only occasionally; and for some, it is still an idea they are considering, trying to find a place for it within a life they have meanwhile built somewhere else.
That is why none of the conversations at TP Café is ever predetermined. Among the people we met, some are considering returning, some want to stay where they are while reconnecting part of their time, work or plans with Serbia, and others are still trying to find their own balance between the countries they call home.
From Vienna to Budapest, Milan and Hamburg, through TP Café we continued to listen, ask questions, and leave room for conversations without a predetermined direction, but with the same purpose: to stay connected with people who are building their lives between Serbia and the rest of the world.
Four cities, many different stories, and even more reasons to keep meeting and talking.
