26 July 2015.  This was the first time I put my step in Newcastle, UK. Confused by the term ‘coach’ for the first time, I was the only Indonesian among the Chinese. Sat with a Vietnamese, who later become one of my study friends, we were talking about why we chose our degree. Yes, we were notice that this was just beginning of our life changing journey later.

I took four subjects in the first term. One of the subjects was Security Analysis. I was quite lucky I got a group consists of different nationalities: German, Belgian, Morocco, Austrian, and British, who later become my best friend. J

Tried to make some friends were never easy as it seems. I was struggling for some topics, I need a study partner who has a strong willingness to have a discussion. This was the reason I asked the British guy to solve some problems for some certain topics.

I was very struggling. I had to go to library in the morning, went home at midnight just to study those all subjects. If I didn’t understand, I opened a Google and searched for the topics that I didn’t understand. Repeated this process until I understood. If the assignment was a project or essay, I proofread many times, and tried to criticise by myself. Then, I hire a proofread service to proofread my essay again and to criticise my essay. Then I will proofread again for the last time. If you think why I overly did the proofread, that was because I didn’t like someone seeing my essay have many typos in it. Did the proofread service significantly increase the score of my essay? It didn’t. But I did believe it increased the chance to get a higher score. J

In November 2014, I passed the interview as a President of Private Equity and Venture Capital Club in Durham University. Did I apply to be a President? No. But I did have a strong motivation to join the club. That was the time when I did not carefully read the announcement as they were looking for President and Vice President but I sent my application to be a Senior Analyst. Thus, was I the only one applying for this club so in the end I was selected as a President? Perhaps yes. However, I didn’t care about that.

Still in November 2014, I was chosen to represent Durham for a study abroad program – to France. Luckily, the chosen one will automatically get a scholarship from Erasmus+. Then, I went to France from 10 June to 7 September. I met an old lady who later known as the mother of the partner of the world-famous management consultancy firm in Indonesia. Yes it was such a coincidence (read ‘Grenoble: An Unexpected Journey’).

After experiencing an exchange (I once failed to go exchange to USA), I got a chance to taste an internship in BNI London. Apart from that, I involved in a badminton community and join a competition. Luckily, London dominated all the finals and semi-finals and I reached final though I wasn’t the first winner. J

Finished internship and the badminton tournament, travelling was my next target. I failed trying to travel around Europe due to my duration of stay in my Schengen visa. Therefore, travelling around UK was an alternative choice for me. Oxford, Cambridge, Seven Sisters, Belfast and Liverpool were my destination. Other big cities – such as Machester, Edinburgh, etc – have been visited before.

5 November 2015, email came inside from the master office. It was an announcement of my dissertation result. Luckily, I have been awarded masters with Distinction. Was I happy? Of course. But the next target is to bring my parents to attend my graduation in January. For some reasons, this conggregation is very important for me – if you ask me, I prefer to postpone my job application or whatever it is than if I cannot attend my graduation.

Time goes by, two months – after I submitted my dissertation – are too short. I feel that this is the time for me to end my journey in UK after I had a great time. Another unexpected journey awaits me. Thus, Is this really the end? It depends on your point of view. I believe not. J

Benny Januar Tannawi – Durham, Grenoble and London

15 November 2015 – 16 November 2015

Inside the Etihad Airways, in the middle of a journey between London – Abu Dhabi (Seat 71H) and Abu Dhabi – Jakarta (Seat 24 D).