During the late 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to Europe with a companion. Because my travel mate was interested in pursuing a master’s degree in New York, we had booked a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a big ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side called International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, took a seat, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He asked me what I did for a living, and I told him that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been working on studies using an electron microscope.
He noted that there was an microscopy facility at Columbia University – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I consider applying for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
The next day I toured the city, returning to the canteen that evening. The Iraqi student approached me and told me that he had set up a meeting for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Given that he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but immediately told my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a place where opportunities abound – she said: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. One of the benefits was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a master’s of international affairs.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in numerous aspects. I would never have had the bravery or nerve to approach someone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that free tuition.
What's more, that job in New York resulted in a position in Switzerland where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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