During the late 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my friend was considering starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had arranged a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We arrived at the graduate housing, a large multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the canteen, where we picked up meals, took a seat, and started talking to fellow residents.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a degree in science 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 why he was aware of it. He recommended that I ought to seek a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The man from Iraq walked over to me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but right away explained to my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she said: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I was employed there for three years. A perk of the job was that I also received complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his identity, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the courage or nerve to reach out at an prestigious college and seek a position. And, I had always wanted to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that role at the university resulted in a position in Switzerland where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising four wonderful sons and daughters. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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