During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a companion. Since my travel mate was considering pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had planned a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a big multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side named International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, sat down, and engaged in conversation with fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He inquired what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I should apply for a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was soon departing to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The Iraqi student came up to me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but straight off told my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a place where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. One of the benefits was that I also received free tuition at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his name, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or nerve to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that role at the university resulted in a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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