During the closing decade of the 80s, I was beginning a low-cost journey to the European continent with a companion. Because my companion was interested in starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had booked a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a big multi-story edifice on the Upper West Side known as International House. Once we unpacked, we headed straight to the canteen, where we got some food, found a table, 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 shared 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 – close to the engineering faculty, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I consider applying for a role with them. I dismissed the idea, explaining that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I lacked a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The Iraqi student approached me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Since he had made the arrangement, I attended the interview – but immediately informed my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
As is common in NYC – a place where opportunities abound – she declared: “We can make that happen. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I held that position for three years. A perk of the job was that I also received no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
I lost touch with him and I am unaware of his name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I lacked the confidence or self-assurance to approach someone at an prestigious college and seek a position. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York led me to a position in Switzerland where I met my handsome spouse from France, with whom I now have four amazing children. This was a pivotal life event. That helpful person set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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