During the final years of the 1980s, I set out on a backpacking trip to Europe with a travel partner. Because my friend was exploring pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had planned a 14-day stopover there on the way to London.
We arrived at the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the Upper West Side named International House. Setting down our luggage, we went directly to the dining hall, where we picked up meals, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.
Beside me was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program 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 degree in science and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an research lab at the institution – adjacent to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I laughed it off, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I didn’t have a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, returning to the canteen that evening. The engineering student approached me and told me that he had arranged an interview for me with the leader of the research team at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but straight off told my interviewer that I was without a work permit, so I was probably wasting her time.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a city where anything feels possible – she said: “That can be arranged. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for three years. An advantage of the role was that I was granted no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to finish a master’s of international affairs.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his identity, but his incredible act of kindness altered my destiny in multiple respects. I didn't possess the courage or self-belief to reach out at an prestigious college and seek a position. Additionally, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that role at the university led me to a position in Switzerland where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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