Written by Glory

Anxiety, fear and panic are feelings you experience when you start something new. Even more so when that something is a master’s degree in a country far away from home.

These were the emotions that gripped me when I landed at Heathrow Airport from Nigeria on 20 September 2025.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

I looked out of the window and quietly said to myself, “This is happening”.

As I walked off the plane and thanked the hostess, I found myself wondering what the next year would look like.

Would I take bold steps, or would I spend most of my time wondering if I was qualified enough to take them?

Would I open my mind to new ways of thinking, or hold tightly to the ways of thinking I was already familiar with?

Would I connect with people from different countries and backgrounds, or retreat into what was comfortable?

Would I ask questions in class, engage with my lecturers and seek clarity, or sit quietly wondering whether my questions were “wise enough” to ask?

Looking back now, I think my journey answered most of those questions for me.

I became an Institute Representative. Alongside my co-representative, I helped curate events that my colleagues thoroughly enjoyed: a Christmas party, a farewell for the January leavers, and eventually a farewell for us September starters.

Becoming an Institute Representative also pushed me to engage more deeply with the Institute itself. I realised that so much great work was already happening around me, and as someone who would rather contribute to something great than simply watch it happen, I wanted to help tell those stories.

So, I began documenting some of the excellent work happening around the Institute. If you are considering studying with us, I genuinely encourage you to take a look at the work being done here and see for yourself by visiting the IDIA blog or LinkedIn page.

My time at the Institute also opened doors beyond the classroom.

I attended two UNA-UK events, one of which gave me the opportunity to listen to candidates for one of the most prestigious positions in the world: the position of UN Secretary-General, as they shared their visions for a better world.

There were moments when I had to remind myself: I am actually here.

Here, in London, listening to conversations I had once only read about. Sitting in rooms with people whose work I had followed from afar.

Then there was Games and Talks, an initiative I started back in Nigeria, came with me to the UK.

I brought adults together to play games, have conversations about life, network, reflect on the experience of navigating a master’s degree, and talk about what comes next.

In a way, bringing Games and Talks with me was another answer to the questions I asked myself when I landed at Heathrow. I could have simply focused on my degree and kept everything else I had built back home, separate from this new chapter.

Instead, I chose to bring a little piece of home with me.

Towards the end of my modules came the surprise. I was named postgraduate representative of the year.

I genuinely didn’t think I had done that much but receiving that award made me pause and realise that maybe, just maybe, I had done at least one thing right.

Perhaps that is the lesson I will carry with me long after the master’s degree is over. You never really know what can come from taking the first step until you take it.

People who change the world are not necessarily the people who spend the most time talking about changing it; they are the people who take steps.

So, to you reading this who is considering leaving home and coming to the UK for school, it is okay to be scared.

It is okay to wonder what this new chapter will look like.

It is okay to question whether you should wait or take the leap.

I had those questions too, but I hope you give yourself permission to discover the answers along the way because sometimes, you don’t get the answers before you begin. Sometimes, you find them because you began.

The best part?

At the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs, here at Loughborough London, you don’t have to figure everything out alone. The lecturers and people at the Institute are there to support you, not simply because they are your lecturers, but because many of them have walked the path of doing a master’s themselves.

I came to the UK wondering whether I would truly make the most of this experience.

As I complete my master’s, I can say that I have no regrets.

When I eventually take that walk across the graduation stage later this year, I will do so knowing that I did not simply come to the UK to earn a degree.

I came to learn.

I came to grow.

I came to contribute.

I came to discover parts of myself I didn’t know were there and perhaps, most importantly, I came afraid, but I did not let fear decide what I would do with the opportunity in front of me.

I came. I saw. I did.