It's been five years since I left the UK. Throughout this time I've been adamant that I wouldn't go back aside from the occasional visit. But now I'm faced with a dilemma.

Last year, I applied to do a master's in Southeast Asian Studies, majoring in government and politics of modern Southeast Asia, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. And this week I was made an unconditional offer to start in September.

I only have about three weeks to decide what to do.

On the one hand, I have had a really good year in terms of work. I'm writing all the time and I'm hitting bigger and better publications while gradually getting better access to information. I'm by no means comfortable enough to retire, but I'm saving money and I could self-fund my master's, although it would be a hefty investment.

The idea of leaving Southeast Asia isn't a factor because my plan would be to return as soon as my master's is finished. And I imagine I'd need to spend time here to complete my dissertation. So it would only be a short time away.

When I look at it like that, I recall how I spent six months away from Timor-Leste and just returned this past February, and yet I was able to pick up where I left off and carry on with my work. I know I could do it again.

So I'm asking myself why I want to do a master's when I'm already content with my life and work here. Well, I don't want to be merely "content" for the rest of my life.

I want to learn more about the politics of the region, in particular the politics of Indonesia. To have that academic understanding of politics in Southeast Asia, I think, would help me in my bid to broaden the scope of stories I write. I want to cover the region and be based in Jakarta. That's my goal.

As someone said today, at the moment, I am just groping in the dark and learning as I work.

Furthermore, I have this craving to go back to school, to read for days on end, to be surrounded by likeminded, interesting people. I want to expand my horizons and to learn more about where I live.

I'm still following the same career path. I'm a journalist. That's all I want to do — write stories. I haven't had a full-time job in a year and a half and my life has never been better. When I look at my portfolio of stories I see how my work has progressed and matured over the years.

I've made a lot of mistakes, and I know that, but here I am today in the kind of position where I feel like the world is my oyster, to use a cliche.

For the past couple of days I have also been pondering whether I would ever use what I've learned and look for some kind of full-time work here in Timor-Leste. Such opportunities haven't presented themselves and I have really never looked for them.

I do have other work besides writing stories, but it's part-time, short-term, project-based contract work. To be honest, I wish I had more work like that, but a full-time gig? Never say never, but it's not high on my list.

What I have to really think about is how beneficial a master's will be. For my chosen career, I am convinced that having a better understanding of Southeast Asia, including the Indonesian language modules I would take, will make me a better journalist. I also believe that if I choose the right topic for my dissertation, it will help me in the same way.

I have no problem with leaving Timor-Leste for a time. I don't have anything to keep me in Timor-Leste other than my work and my fondness of the place itself.

The idea of some time in a big city is also appealing and, dare I say this, it would probably do me good to meet a nice girl and just chill for a bit. I don't imagine such a thing happening in Dili any time soon, although I have tried, a bit.

There is more chance of me accepting the offer than declining it, but still, the fact that there is a choice to be made leads me to believe I should give it some decent thought.