During the late 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Because my friend was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in NYC, we had booked a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, took a seat, and began chatting with other diners.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at the university – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that evening. The man from Iraq 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. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but right away told my host that I didn’t have a visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
As is common in NYC – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she said: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I missed my plane to London.
I held that position for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I got complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a master’s of international affairs.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his full name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in numerous aspects. I lacked the courage or nerve to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Additionally, I had always wanted to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that free tuition.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university led me to a job in Zurich where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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