Debt free and a college degree from a top 50 university, Levi just decided on a whim that he wanted to work in Paris. So like other newly graduates he prepared his resume and sent it to a few university alumni already established in France. He arrived in Paris on a Friday with five job interviews line up for the following week. It turned out by sheer coincidence that two of the five companies that he was interviewing with had at some point been indebted to Levi's father, so finding a place for him with their company wasn't difficult, and within 11 business days of landing in Charles de Gaule Airport Levi settled down in his new office on the fifth floor of an export consulting company earning 4,000€/month.

"Sure its only 48,000€/year, but I'm only 25 years old and just out of university, and lack the experience to get a good paying job. But by sharing an apartment with a few guys, I was able to find an apartment for only 400€/month plus utilities."

Unfortunately, five months after Levi started working, another company bought out his consulting firm, and he was made redundant. Fortunately, one of the senior partners at his firm took all of his faithful clients with him, started his own consulting company, and wanted Levi to be in on the ground floor.

"It was great! Before I didn't have any work experience so had to accept a lousy pay. But now with five months of work experience, I was able to negotiate 60,000€/year."

A year after signing with his new company, Levi turned in his letter of resignation. Paris no longer appealed to him, and he wanted to give South America a try. And what a coincidence that it turned out that at least 25 alumni from his school either owned or worked at corporations in South America.

"By the way" Levi added as he got up to leave. "Thanks for the coffee - is it okay if you buy it for me? I'm kinda hard up for cash..."

True Story.