Nicusor Serban-Mocanu, 25, Queen Street Station, Glasgow
“I lived in Milan for a while and worked as a car mechanic. I was good at it”
Glasgow is a great city. I came to the UK earlier this year and I knew people in Glasgow, so I immediately came here. It has good parks, good shops and most importantly good people. People here are very friendly.
The Homeless World Cup was held in Glasgow last month, and it was a great event. I sold The Big Issue at George Square, at the pitch where all the matches were played. There were really good crowds and the atmosphere was very friendly.
There were so many people from around the world to speak to, it was very exciting. I am a football fan, so watching the games was fun too. Every time Scotland played there was a big crowd cheering them on. I cheered Scotland on too!
Things have been difficult but I am determined to keep going. I’ve enjoyed selling the magazine
I support Steaua București, a Romanian team. Over the years they have had good times and bad times, which is like life – good and bad. But I stick with them. I don’t really have a favourite Scottish or English team yet. If I have an idol in football, it would be Ronaldo – but not the current Ronaldo, the Portuguese Ronaldo. No, I mean the Brazilian Ronaldo who played some years ago – he was the player I loved. He was the real legend.
I grew up in a small town in Romania. My family left seven or eight years ago, when I was about 18, because the economy was bad, life was bad there, so we left to find work and a better life. We went to Italy and lived in Milan.
I worked as a car mechanic there. It was something I was good at and picked up easily because I knew cars. And I got better at it because I got experience. But the economy in Italy became very bad too, so I came to the UK.
Things have been difficult but I am determined to keep going. I’ve enjoyed selling the magazine. I hope it can help me, and maybe I will find mechanic work in the future. It’s nice to speak to customers and it gives me a chance to improve my English too. Glasgow seems like a good place to make friends.
I’d like to visit other parts of Scotland, if I can find the time. At the moment I do not have the time or money but it would be nice to see the countryside and the lochs and the hills. One day I will do that, for sure.
The place I would love to visit… Rome. I lived in Italy but I never got to Rome, and I always wanted to see the Colosseum and experience the history.
On my pitch… I’m at Queen Street Station Mondays to Fridays, 9am till 5pm.
Photo: Andy Buchanan
Queen Street Station, Glasgow, United Kingdom