In the final years of the 1980s, I was embarking on a budget travel adventure to the European continent with a companion. Since my companion was considering starting a postgraduate program in New York, we had planned a two-week stay there on the way to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a big 10-storey building on the UWS known as International House. Once we unpacked, we went directly to the dining hall, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and began chatting with people eating there.
Adjacent to my seat was an individual of Iraqi origin pursuing an engineering degree at a prestigious New York university. He asked me what I did, and I told him that I had just graduated with a science degree and had been performing experiments using an electron microscope.
He mentioned that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He recommended that I ought to seek a role with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was about to fly to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
The following day I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The Iraqi student approached me and let me know that he had arranged an interview for me with the director of the microscopy lab at Columbia. Because he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but immediately informed my interviewer that I didn’t have a visa, so I was likely not a suitable candidate.
As is common in NYC – a place where anything feels possible – she declared: “That can be arranged. When can you start?” I never got on that flight to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I got no-cost classes at Columbia, and I took advantage to earn a postgrad program in international relations.
We didn't cross paths after that and I can't recall his full name, but his selfless gesture transformed my future in multiple respects. I lacked the courage or self-assurance to contact anyone at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but lacked the financial means without that educational benefit.
Critically, that gig at Columbia resulted in a position in Switzerland where I got to know my wonderful partner, with whom I currently share a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That benevolent individual set me on a different course in life, and I’m forever grateful.
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