During the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my companion was interested in starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a two-week stay there before heading to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a sizeable 10-storey building on the Manhattan's Upper West Side known as International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the canteen, where we picked up meals, sat down, and engaged in conversation with other diners.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I shared that I had newly finished with a science degree and had been performing experiments using an electron microscope.
He pointed out that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He suggested that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, even more importantly, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, returning to the canteen that evening. The Iraqi student came up to me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but immediately explained to my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was unable to accept the role.
As is common in NYC – a metropolis where anything feels possible – she said: “We'll handle it. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for 36 months. An advantage of the role was that I also received no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to complete a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I can't recall his full name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in so many ways. I would never have had the confidence or self-assurance to reach out at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that tuition waiver.
Perhaps most importantly, that role at the university led me to a job in Zurich where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have four wonderful sons and daughters. It was a total sliding doors moment. That helpful person changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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