In those five minutes [in the booth], I thought about my businesses, my dreams. Like, how I can convince this guy, and that guy, something like that. I’m a businessman, I’m always thinking about businesses. I dream about them, nothing else. Or it’s about the currency I sell, or that I can buy. This is what I think about, nothing else. I’m a business owner’s son. I’m originally from Morocco—but from Spain, according to the papers.

I did think about the day I arrived here in Geneva. It was October, 2016, I was in Italy that day, in Milan, drunk [borracho], you know what borracho means, don’t you? I was out in clubs, at night. It was 5:00 AM , I was drunk, and I got on a bus. It was in Via Certosa in Milan. I got on the bus and suddenly I was in the train station in Milan. I was drunk, I entered, and I saw “Geneva, Switzerland,” and I went for it. I bought a ticket, and I arrived here. And I’m still here [laughs].

I arrived knowing no one, not a French word, nothing. I wandered around asking questions. I wandered, the weather was warm, there were two Spanish people speaking Spanish, two or three I don’t remember. I ran towards them to ask them what the deal here was and they said, “We have no change” and I said, “No, I am not asking for money. I wanted to ask you—because I hear you speaking Spanish and I don’t speak French—I wanted to ask for help, telling me what the deal is, I am not asking for money.”

And then I went to a club. And I got drunk, and I went back to the hotel to sleep. The next day, I said to myself, “I’m going to ask how it works here, to find a job, to create a business.” And I met a guy. He was talking Portuguese on the phone. I heard him because I speak Portuguese. I let him finish and I approached him—“Hi, how are you? Could you please tell me what living in Switzerland looks like, what’s the deal?” [and he asked me] “Where are you from?” [and I replied] “I’m from Spain, Badajoz” [and he said] “I’m from here, but originally from…” And so we started.

And we talked. “What did you do in Spain? What’s your occupation?” And I said “Businessman.” And he said, “I’ve always wanted to be a businessman.” He’s an IT engineer who wanted to be a businessman. And I told him, “Okay, I can teach you, but you have to tell me how I can get a job here, if there are opportunities, and so on. Can you explain all this to me?” And he did and told me, “Where are you staying?” and I said, “In a hotel,” and he said, “Come to my place, if you want you, you’re welcome.”

We talked about business the whole night. I gave him a hint for an online business, like a local shop, but online, on the internet. We worked on this project for three months, an IT project. When were had finished, we worked on some papers. Suddenly Swiss banks told us that they don’t collaborate with Chinese banks, and that threw a spanner in the works, as the saying goes, and so we stopped.

We started thinking and thinking and thinking. We met with someone who said, “There are virtual currencies, bitcoins, to invest in.” I said, “Let’s try.” And we invested 20 francs, and we started selling and buying. We invested more and more, and so far, everything’s good.

But I have other businesses, on the side. Like buying art, for example, from Italy. I have tonnes of clients in Spain, in Portugal, in Morocco, in Egypt, all over the world. I am always looking for opportunities.

While I was in [the booth], I started thinking about fate. I don’t need money to live. I am an adventurer, looking for opportunities, nothing more. When I arrived from Milan, I didn’t have plan. I was drunk, I didn’t know… I was happy and drunk. I got to the train station in Milan, I saw Geneva, Switzerland, and I bought a ticket. I think it was around 80 euros. I was drunk, I asked a guy, “Take this, it’s 80 euros, buy me a ticket”. He bought it, I jumped on the train, and I got here, with no clothes, nada, just what I was wearing.

It was all dark. And me, I’m a quiet person, I don’t react. Whenever I want to relax, I look for a place where [I can] be myself, in that moment, nothing else. This place is ideal for what I look for. Every time I have a lot of thoughts, I’m stressed, I go to the hotel, by myself, and that’s all. Whenever I want to relax, I need to be alone.