In the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Because my companion was interested in enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had planned a two-week stay there before heading to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a sizeable 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we got some food, took a seat, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Beside me was an Iraqi man enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I consider applying for a position with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, additionally, I didn’t have a US visa.
The following day I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The Iraqi student walked over to me and informed me that he had set up a meeting for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I went to the meeting – but immediately explained to my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
In typical New York fashion – a place where everything seems achievable – she declared: “We'll handle it. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his identity, but his remarkable generosity changed my life in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or self-belief to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that educational benefit.
Critically, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a job in Zurich where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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