In the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Since my friend was exploring starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had booked a fortnight visit there en route to London.
We arrived at the student accommodation, a sizeable 10-storey building on the UWS called International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, took a seat, and began chatting with other diners.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I did for a living, and I explained that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been conducting research using an electron microscope.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at the university – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I consider applying for a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The man from Iraq walked over to me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Since he had gone to the trouble, I attended the interview – but right away explained to my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she responded: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for three years. A perk of the job was that I also received no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his identity, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. Additionally, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that job in New York resulted in a job in Zurich where I encountered my wonderful partner, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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