During the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Since my travel mate was considering enrolling in graduate studies in NYC, we had booked a 14-day stopover there en route to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the UWS known as International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the canteen, where we got some food, sat down, and engaged in conversation with fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a science degree and had been performing experiments using an electron microscope.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – adjacent to the engineering department, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I should apply for a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off explained to my prospective employer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where opportunities abound – she responded: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. An advantage of the role was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his name, but his selfless gesture changed my life in numerous aspects. I didn't possess the confidence or nerve to reach out at an prestigious college and request employment. Additionally, I had consistently hoped to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that role at the university led me to a job in Zurich where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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