During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to Europe with a companion. Since my companion was exploring starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had arranged a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the UWS named International House. After dropping our bags, we headed straight to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, found a table, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Sitting next to me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He inquired what I did for a living, and I shared that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an research lab at the university – close to the school of engineering, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I should apply for a role with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.
The next day I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that night. The engineering student came up to me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but straight off told my interviewer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she said: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a master’s of international affairs.
We didn't cross paths after that and I am unaware of his name, but his remarkable generosity altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university paved the way for a position in Switzerland where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I am raising four wonderful sons and daughters. That encounter altered everything. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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