During the late 1980s, I was beginning a backpacking trip to the European continent with a travel partner. Since my friend was exploring starting a postgraduate program in the Big Apple, we had arranged a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We reached the student accommodation, a sizeable multi-story edifice on the UWS named International House. After dropping our bags, we made our way to the cafeteria, where we grabbed food, took a seat, and started talking to fellow residents.
Beside me was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at an Ivy League institution. He inquired what I did for a living, and I told him that I had just graduated with a scientific background and had been conducting research involving microscopic analysis.
He pointed out that there was an microscopy facility at the institution – adjacent to the school of engineering, which was how he knew about it. He proposed that I ought to seek a job with them. I chuckled at the suggestion, saying that I was soon departing to Europe and, additionally, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I went out exploring, going back to the cafeteria that after dark. The Iraqi student came up to me and informed me that he had arranged an interview for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but straight off told my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
Reflecting the city's spirit – a place where anything feels possible – she responded: “We'll handle it. What's your start date?” I didn't board the aircraft to London.
I was employed there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I also received no-cost classes at Columbia, and I used the opportunity to complete a graduate degree in global studies.
We didn't cross paths after that and I am unaware of his name, but his selfless gesture altered my destiny in multiple respects. I didn't possess the confidence or self-belief to reach out at an Ivy League university and ask for a job. Moreover, I had long dreamed to pursue education overseas, but could never have afforded it without that educational benefit.
Perhaps most importantly, that job in New York resulted in a position in Switzerland where I met my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. It was a total sliding doors moment. That kind stranger set me on a different course in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
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