At age 22, Javier Camarena took a left turn in his career path.

He decided to abandon his engineering degree, so he could pursue his true passion, music.

But he had no formal training, so he went back to school in Veracruz, Mexico, where one

of his teachers said he needed to learn how to sing in Italian.

The teacher put a book of the opera Durandot de Puccini, presented in the Metropolitan

Opera House of New York.

When I heard it, my heart was beating.

It was the first time he had ever heard opera, and he was completely enchanted.

When I heard opera for the first time, I knew that I had found my passion.

However, there was something I didn't know, and I was going to have to fight against my own

limitations to become a true singer of opera.

Not only would Javier learn to sing opera, but he would become one of the most famous singers

of our time.

Bienvenidos and welcome to the Duolingo Spanish podcast.

I'm Martina Castro.

Every episode we bring you fascinating, true stories to help you improve your Spanish

listening and gain new perspectives on the world.

The storyteller will be using intermediate Spanish, and I'll be chiming in for context

in English.

If you miss something, you can always get back and listen again.

And we also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com.

Javier Camarina dropped out of engineering and enrolled at the University of Ida Cruz

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