Leaning back against the cushions amid the billowing smoke of a dimly lit shisha lounge in the lavish 16th Arrondissement of Paris, I listened attentively to my new friend, a Moroccan in his late twenties, who like so many other North Africans, had come to France to make a better life for himself. Though young, he was a small business owner who worked long hours to fund his passion for world travel when off the clock. It was early 2011 and the