During the closing decade of the 80s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a travel partner. Because my travel mate was considering pursuing a master’s degree in NYC, we had booked a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We reached the postgrad residence, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the cafeteria, where we got some food, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I shared that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been working on studies involving microscopic analysis.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I consider applying for a job with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, additionally, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, returning to the canteen that evening. The Iraqi student came up to me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had made the arrangement, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off told my prospective employer that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
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. A perk of the job was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I didn't possess the courage or self-assurance to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had consistently hoped to take classes in another country, but could never have afforded it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that job in New York resulted in a position in Switzerland where I met my wonderful partner, 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 forever grateful.
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