During the closing decade of the 80s, I set out on a low-cost journey to the European continent with a friend. Because my friend was exploring enrolling in graduate studies in NYC, we had arranged a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We got to the graduate housing, a sizeable 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we picked up meals, found a table, and started talking to people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin enrolled in an engineering program at a prestigious New York university. He inquired what I did for a living, and I explained that I had just graduated with a degree in science and had been performing experiments with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at Columbia University – close to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I ought to seek a role with them. I dismissed the idea, telling him that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I toured the city, returning to the canteen that evening. The Iraqi student approached me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Because he had gone to the trouble, I showed up for the discussion – but straight off told my prospective employer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a city where anything feels possible – she responded: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I missed my plane to London.
I was employed there for three years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I seized the chance to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
I never saw that student again and I am unaware of his identity, but his remarkable generosity transformed my future in multiple respects. I would never have had the bravery or self-belief to contact anyone at an prestigious college and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to study abroad, but lacked the financial means without that free tuition.
What's more, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a role in Europe where I got to know my beautiful French husband, with whom I am raising four wonderful sons and daughters. This was a pivotal life event. That kind stranger changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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