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My first experience travelling alone to an unknown, foreign land changed my life for the better. I left the comfort of my home in foothills of Karakoram Range for higher education and landed at the Heathrow airport in London on a cold evening of September in 2012. As I walked closer to the border control desk at the airport, I handed over my passport, copy of the ticket and a thick packet of papers to the officer. I held my breath and waited for his questions. “What is the purpose of your visit?” He asked with a straight face. I smiled, and with a sense of pride, I said I am going to be a student at the London School of Economics for a year on full scholarship. My passport was stamped after a few minutes at the counter and no one checked my educational documents at the airport. I embarked upon this life changing and awe-inspiring journey without any prior knowledge about the lifestyle in London. I was welcomed at the airport by a distant relative who was approached by my father to look out for a girl in yellow dress at the arrivals. On my first day at LSE I was guided to the campus on a bus by a Tajiki friend of my relative who came to study in London. I was elated as she made salted-butter tea before we left for the campus. That hot cup of sheer-chae (milk tea) felt like home. However, on the second day, the same bus stopped at a different location and I did not know the way back to my campus. I asked a random girl about the directions on the road. “Just walk straight for a few minutes and you will see your campus on your right… and do not forget to press the button on red buses to stop at your desired location” she remarked as she pointed her fingers towards the direction. I smiled and thanked her. I felt grateful for the kindness of a stranger. I had completed 16 years of my education in a patriarchal and a complex society that is still infected with the crippling disease of sectarian polarization, but leaping into the unknown gave me an opportunity to spread wings and leave the cocoon. I started to learn and unlearn without any barriers or hesitation. Interestingly enough, an Indian, Hindu girl became my neighbor in the dorm. We bonded over a vegetarian dish and the shackles of rigid beliefs on the differences based on religion, language or notions of nation-states just evaporated in thin air with the hot steam of a vegetarian soup. When a Pakistani and an Indian, a Muslim and a Hindu came together in London, they danced on songs, cherished simple things like sharing a hot cup of masala chae and simple aalo (potato) pulao. We also shared our food and built a lifelong friendship with an Emirati and a Croatian girl. We are friends to this day. Our friendship not only strengthened our belief about the beauty of pluralism, but it also broadened the horizons of my imagination by challenging some of the preconceptions. Thus, I learned to challenge myself and learn something new every day. Every new encounter added to my knowledge. I fell in love with the food culture of the world in the melting pot and met incredible musicians on the roads. Never in my life had I seen a museum or a building with so many books under one roof. I read books, explored maps and rare manuscripts in libraries; and learnt about the art and culture of the world in museums and galleries. Taking leap into the unknown has been nothing short of a miracle. I came back to Pakistan as a much stronger, independent and more knowledgeable woman. I learned to take pride in my identity as a Burusho from Hunza and I aim to make people aware of my culture that encourages women to take a risk and become a better person.