When I was 17, I was awarded a scholarship to study at university in the UK. This is probably the one single thing that changed the course of my life most dramatically.

I grew up in a small nothing town in south-east Asia. My parents hadn't been to university, it was something I never imagined, or even thought of, given all I wanted to do was hang out with my friends. I didn't think it would happen, it was one of those things my mother made me do. The first interview went by, and the second, and suddenly they were shortlisting me for the final interview. And flying me to Hong Kong for it. I'd never even been on a plane before that point!

I recall being very anxious. Mom and I went shopping for new clothes - I picked a long floral skirt in navy blue with beige flowers, and a dark blue blazer. I remember walking into the waiting room, to be met by the blank stares of the other hopeful candidates. Every single one of them was wearing a suit. The girls had make-up and heels. I see now why it wouldn't have occurred to me that a suit was the right attire - I had never seen anyone in real life wear one up to that point. The atmosphere was funereal. From time to time, candidates' names were called, and they stood up, were ushered through solid wooden doors into the unknown. More time would pass, and they would be ushered out, smiling, but you could see the fear in their eyes.

We whispered to each other. What questions were they asking? Someone said that one of the questions was "What do you think contributed to the collapse of Japan's bubble economy?" and another whispered that someone had been asked if they agreed with the current economic policy being championed by the German government. By this stage I was bug-eyed with fear. I had no idea what a bubble economy even was. Totally out of my depth, a total waste of time, I didn't fit in there with my dowdy clothes and my total lack of knowledge of everything that was going on in the world. You see, my world was small. It was home, and school, and home again, and my friends' homes, but no more. And this translated into a young girl wearing an outfit that probably would have looked right at a church bake sale in the 1970s, rather than an important life-defining interview at the corporate offices of one of the biggest companies in the world.

Finally my turn came. I got up, resigned. Surely they would dismiss me out of hand as soon as they realised I knew nothing. I entered the room - some kind of boardroom - where I was sat facing a panel of 7? 9? interviewers. They introduced themselves, but the names were all a blur. Someone was a Lord and there was a Lady. I wished I could disappear through the floor.

They started by asking me, gently, my name, my background, etc. I waited for the first question that would expose me as someone unworthy, untalented, undeserving. And then someone said "I see here that you say that you like reading. Tell us about a book you've read recently." And just like that - everything changed. In my small, enclosed, world, I did nothing, nothing, but read. I read all the time. When I was supposed to be asleep. When I was supposed to be studying. When I was supposed to be reading about the bloody-bubble economy of the Japanese. So I opened my mouth and the words came tripping over themselves...I can't remember what I said, now, or what books I talked about, but that was the only question they asked me. I suppose they couldn't stop me talking after that point.

And the rest, is history.

To be fair, in another alternate universe, they asked me a question about the world economy, and I sat there in silence, looking at the floor, trying not to cry. And after what seemed like a lifetime, they took pity on me, released me from my misery, and as soon as I walked out those wooden doors, chucked my application straight into the bin. With perhaps some confused questions as to how I'd gotten through the screening process in the first place.