In the final years of the 1980s, I was beginning a budget travel adventure to Europe with a travel partner. Since my companion was considering enrolling in graduate studies in the Big Apple, we had planned a fortnight visit there on the way to London.
We got to the student accommodation, a sizeable ten-floor structure on the Upper West Side called International House. Once we unpacked, we made our way to the dining hall, where we got some food, found a table, and began chatting with fellow residents.
Adjacent to my seat was an gentleman from Iraq studying engineering at Columbia University. He wanted to know what I my profession was, and I told him that I had recently completed my studies with a degree in science and had been working on studies with electron microscopy.
He noted that there was an electron microscope unit at the institution – right next door to the engineering faculty, which was the reason he was familiar with it. He proposed that I consider applying for a job with them. I laughed it off, telling him that I was heading off to Europe and, more critically, I did not possess a US visa.
A day later I ventured out, returning to the canteen that evening. The engineering student came up to me and told me that he had organized a discussion for me with the head of the electron microscope unit at Columbia. Since he had taken the effort, I attended the interview – but immediately explained to my host that I lacked the necessary visa, so I was probably wasting her time.
In typical New York fashion – a metropolis where everything seems achievable – she declared: “We can make that happen. What's your start date?” I missed my plane to London.
I worked there for a trio of years. A perk of the job was that I was granted complimentary education at Columbia, and I seized the chance to finish a postgrad program in international relations.
I never saw that student again and I can't recall his identity, but his selfless gesture changed my life in so many ways. I didn't possess the bravery or nerve to approach someone at an elite institution and ask for a job. Additionally, I had long dreamed to take classes in another country, but wouldn't have been able to pay for it without that tuition waiver.
What's more, that gig at Columbia paved the way for a job in Zurich where I encountered my beautiful French husband, with whom I now have a family of four kids. This was a pivotal life event. That benevolent individual changed my trajectory in life, and I’m eternally thankful.
Can you recall the Nicest Thing a Stranger Has Shown for You?
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