During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a budget travel adventure to Europe with a travel partner. Because my travel mate was interested in starting a postgraduate program in NYC, we had arranged a fortnight visit there before heading to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a large 10-storey building on the UWS named International House. Setting down our luggage, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we got some food, sat down, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Beside me was an Iraqi man pursuing an engineering degree at Columbia University. He asked me what I did, and I shared that I had newly finished with a scientific background 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 proposed that I should apply for a role with them. I laughed it off, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, even more importantly, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, coming back to the dining hall that evening. The man from Iraq came up to me and let me know that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but immediately explained to my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she said: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I held that position for three years. One of the benefits was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I am unaware of his full name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in numerous aspects. I would never have had the bravery or self-belief to approach someone at an Ivy League university and seek a position. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that role at the university resulted in a position in Switzerland where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual redirected my path in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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