When he was 17 his father said that he wanted him to be a doctor. Berlioz wanted to study music, but his father made him go to Paris to study medicine. Berlioz was to stay in Paris for the rest of his life. He studied medicine for two years, but he hated it. One day, in an anatomy lesson, he had had enough and jumped out of the window. He started to study music. His father was furious and stopped sending him money. Berlioz was very poor and started writing musical criticism for newspapers. This is how he earned most of his money for the rest of his life. He was also borrowing money from friends.