The American dream is still very much alive, even in France.

May 2010

This is not how love affairs with the City usually begin.

Loic arrived in New York in early September, a six-month tourist visa in hand. His girlfriend of four years had just moved from France for a study abroad program. The plan was to stay for a month or so, go back to France and come back to visit her. But nothing went according to plan. Less than a week after arriving, they broke up and Loic, 23, was out on the street, with very little money, in a city where he knew no one.

“The first three months were shit, shit, shit,” said Loic. “I don’t even know why I stayed it was such shit.”

First he found a squat in Brooklyn, then a youth hostel. About a month later he started working as a waiter in a small downtown restaurant. But soon money problems caught up with him. The restaurant wasn’t doing well and Loic could no longer afford his room. (more…)