In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a backpacking trip to Europe with a travel partner. Because my travel mate was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had booked a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the UWS called International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, found a table, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a scientific background and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He pointed out that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, returning to the canteen that evening. The engineering student walked over to me and let me know that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but straight off informed my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she responded: “We'll handle it. When can you start?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his name, but his selfless gesture transformed my future in multiple respects. I would never have had the courage or nerve to approach someone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. Additionally, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
Critically, that gig at Columbia resulted in a job in Zurich where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, 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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