In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a backpacking trip to Europe with a friend. Because my companion was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in New York, we had planned a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a large 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, found a table, and started talking to other diners.
Sitting next to me was an gentleman from Iraq enrolled in an engineering program at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I explained that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He mentioned that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the engineering department, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He suggested that I should apply for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I went to the meeting – but straight off told my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she responded: “That can be arranged. How soon can you begin?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for three years. A perk of the job was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to finish a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his full name, but his selfless gesture changed my life in numerous aspects. I would never have had the confidence or self-assurance to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. And, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that job in New York paved the way for a role in Europe where I encountered my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have 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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