Podcast-Best gift ever

The speaker received the best gift ever, plane tickets to Berlin, which allowed them to study at the Berlin Opera Academy. Initially, the speaker's parents were hesitant to support their career choice in the performing arts, but eventually, the speaker's dad bought them the tickets. The experience of going to Berlin was transformative, especially after the limitations of COVID. The speaker's parents didn't fully understand their career choice because they are accountants, but they have become more supportive over time. The speaker plans to continue in their major and is excited about upcoming performances. They express gratitude to their parents for their support. All right, so the best gift that I ever received was playing tickets to Berlin for my family. So I went to Berlin this past summer to study at the Berlin Opera Academy, which I initially had never heard of until I found a Facebook ad and applied out of nowhere and actually got accepted. And I had my parents read up on it because I didn't think it was real for the longest time. And once we figured out that it was real, I didn't think that they would even pay for me to go because I did not have the money on my own to go to even think about going. And they had always been not the happiest about my choice to go for a performing arts degree. So I wasn't sure if they would let me, but they took a few days before they said anything. And it was actually my dad, who's been probably the least happy about my career choices, who said, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and you need to take it. So he bought me the tickets to Berlin, and my mom went with me to Berlin for four weeks. Again, it's an experience, I think, coming out of COVID. I didn't think I would be able to travel for a job for a very long time, if ever. So the fact that I was able to actually just pack up and leave and go do this amazing thing was really transformative. And the fact that my parents supported it really means everything to me. Why do you think your parents didn't support you with your career choices? They're both accountants, so they more just don't understand what I'm going for, in terms of my career choices. I complain about stuff involving what is happening in my life and my career a lot. And they just don't really know how to approach talking about it, because they have no experience with the entertainment industry. So it's just always been. And my brother is in computer sciences, and he's taking a more standard career path. So they've always been a little bit more easy. It's been easier for them to talk to him than it has been to talk to me for a long time. And I think it's because of that. And then also because I've had health problems for a really long time, they're a little bit more protective over me because of that. Mom had to actually come with me to live in Berlin, so she was privy to everything. But yeah, I came back, and my dad was immediately asking me about how all my shows went, how everything with the program was, what I got to see. And he was genuinely really excited that I had gotten to do this thing. And he even said, my brother does Boy Scouts, and he always gets to go on these Boy Scout trips. So my dad said this was like my Boy Scout trip, and this was my fun thing that I got to do. So if you had something, one thing you would want to say to your parents about getting a chance to go to Berlin, what would you say to them? Thank you for finally seeing something in me that I didn't see in myself. And yeah, thank you for supporting me in ways that I could have never imagined would be what you do. Do you plan to continue on with your major with here at North Central? Yeah, I'm in the musical this semester. So everyone come see Selling Bee, November 2nd through 5th. It's going to be a really fun time. And now that I've done Berlin, it's just like I can kind of come for anything. So yeah, I'll be singing around the world. Thank you for finding it great. Yeah, thank you so much for hearing it.