From India to UB, all on YouTube

How Avinash Polineni shared his story as an international student

The thumbnail for Polineni's most popular video on his channel.

If you are curious what the life of an international UB student from India is like, look no further than Avinash Polineni’s YouTube channel, which documents his experience coming to UB from India, and eventually graduating and leaving Buffalo. Beginning with pranking UB students, and ending with his last day on campus, his channel documents his story as an Indian student at UB.

Polineni said that one day he noticed a lack of UB related content on YouTube, and thought he should be the one to fill that void.

“I searched on Google for related videos or something related to UB, but I didn’t find anything much so I thought of creating something,” Polineni said. “So I just wanted to create something related to UB, and I wanted to add some value to UB in the online space and social media.”

Now his channel has over 150k views, and his video, “A Day in the Life of a UB Student,” has received over 56,000 views on YouTube.

Polineni, who has a “passion in creating content,” is originally from India. He came to UB to pursue a Masters Degree in Management Information Systems. He started his channel, which has mainly focused on UB and Buffalo-related content, in July, using footage filmed since arriving in America in 2020.

“Immediately after coming to the USA, I saw the beauty and the integrity in the people.” Polineni said. “As an international student, I realized the rare opportunity of studying at UB was a blessing.”

His channel description reads “Through educating and entertaining vlog-style videos, this channel presents the pursuit of my life. I ​am a Jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. With this channel, I want to change that ‘none’ to at least one. During this transformative journey of my life in the USA, I will be going on a roller coaster ride. With this platform, I will be transmitting my knowledge, wisdom, and understanding of life.”

Polineni has garnered a fair amount of positive attention for his UB related YouTube videos, “A Day in the Life of a UB student”, “BUFFALO VS WESTERN MICHIGAN | UB | SUNY”, a short titled “University at Buffalo | SUNY BUFFALO | South Campus”, and more, which have collectively reached over 56,000 views at the time of writing. His channel has also climbed to 1.56k subscribers.

Polineni graduated in the Fall semester but uploaded three final videos in Buffalo, which detailed his last dinner with friends, his last day on campus and his last day in Buffalo before moving to Dallas to be with friends and family and pursue work opportunities.

Polineni’s video-making process involves handling three different cameras, a Rhode microphone, a GoPro and a drone. He said the process is “somewhat hectic” because he does all the filming himself, often having to simultaneously use two cameras without assistance.

Making the complete “Day in the Life” video was an extensive process for him, spanning multiple days. Polineni said editing the video took even longer than filming it.

“[Editing] took almost 25 hours. The footage is so long, and I need to make it crisp, and I need to use a lot of slow motion effects and drone shots and it took some time. But then the result came out good so it doesn’t matter a lot,” Polineni said.

He said his fellow Bulls are enthusiastic about the process.

“UB always has a good vibe whenever I’m creating, and whenever I hold the camera toward myself they try to come behind me, and they ask about the video and I show the links and tell them like ‘subscribe to the channel so you can see the videos.’ Everyone is always welcoming.”

The “Day in the life” video garnered 184 comments, including “Great effort Avinash ! As an alumni it's great to see someone showing around the campus with so much detail, makes us feel proud of UB! Loved the Video'' and “Awesome brother. I live near south campus too. I am glad to see a such idea. Drone shots are mesmerizing brother.”

Polineni said he wanted to spread the message to the world that UB is a great place to come to.

“Here the culture and the total atmosphere is different. The population is so high, so you can find [a lot of] variety. One hundred eighty clubs: that is too shocking to me. I am trying to interact with many of the clubs, and everything is very good. So if you are undergrad or planning on coming to UB, it’s definitely the best place to come and explore. My only regret is that I didn’t come here for my undergrad; I studied in India. If I came a few years back I would’ve explored more and done more videos, but the only sad part is that I’m leaving UB.”

Originally written for the UB Spectrum, April 24, 2022