During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Since my friend was interested in pursuing a master’s degree in the Big Apple, we had booked a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We reached the graduate housing, a large ten-floor structure on the Manhattan's Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the canteen, where we got some food, found a table, and engaged in conversation with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He wanted to know what I did for a living, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a science degree and had been conducting research using an electron microscope.
He mentioned that there was an research lab at the university – adjacent to the engineering department, which was why he was aware of it. He recommended that I ought to seek a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, explaining that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I toured the city, coming back to the dining hall that after dark. The Iraqi student walked over to me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Given that he had gone to the trouble, I went to the meeting – but right away told my host that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a city where everything seems achievable – she declared: “We can make that happen. How soon can you begin?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for 36 months. A perk of the job was that I got free tuition at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a master’s of international affairs.
I never saw that student again and I don’t even know his name, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in so many ways. I didn't possess the bravery or nerve to approach someone at an elite institution and request employment. And, I had always wanted to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
Critically, that job in New York paved the way for a role in Europe where I got to know my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have a family of four kids. That encounter altered everything. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m always appreciative.
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