مکالمه ی دوم

Conversation 2 - Domestic Exchange Program

Narrator: Listen to a conversation between a student and his ecology professor.

Professor: How is it going? Tom.

Student: Great! I was, oh. I wanted to tell you. You know the guest speaker you brought into class last week from the wildlife conservation center.

Professor: Susan Brown. Yes. She is an old friend from graduate school.

Student: Her talk on wildlife population modeling, well, it was very theoretical.

Professor: It was certainly a change of pace from what we usually do.

Student: Yeah, but I think I pretty much followed along. Plus, I like to see people get so passionate about ecology.

Professor: Oh, right. Ecology is your major field of study, isn’t it? Yes, Susan Brown’s certainly a lively speaker. What a shame she didn’t go into teaching.

Student: Uh, anyway, what I, well, a while ago, I saw this blurb in the school paper about an exchange program that’s part of the study abroad office. And today there was booth set up in the student center with a couple of students answering questions about the university’s programs in foreign countries. Seeing the booth reminded me about the article in the paper and…

Professor: Thinking about going abroad in the coming year?

Student: Actually I just spent last summer studying in Tokyo. I think that satisfied my urge to travel.

Professor: It must’ve been quite an experience.

Student: Definitely. Taking all those language courses was really challenging. But what I wanted to find out at the booth was: it’s…um…a domestic exchange program, not studying abroad, but studying for a year somewhere else here in the United States.

Professor: I don’t think I have heard of that.

Student: Well, neither had the guys in the booth. They didn’t know what I was talking about. But when I talked to the supervisor in the study abroad office, it turns out we are part of a… a group of universities throughout the US that does a domestic exchange program.

Professor: Huh! So you spent…what…a year at another university and your classes count toward your degree here?

Student: Yeah, and I paid the same fees, tuition, room and board, that I pay here.

So it doesn’t really cost any extra.

Professor: Interesting.

Student: And you know I’ve lived here in southern Florida my whole life. And I’ve always been interested in Montana. The university in Montana, where I want to go, has classes that deal specifically with the ecology there. Like I am interested in the greater yellow stone ecosystem. It is such an important ecosystem being the source of three major rivers, and I want to learn more about it.

Professor: Wow! This is a unique idea. The climate, the plants and wildlife, it’s really different from here, probably the culture too in a way, and don’t forget about all the outdoor activities you could do there, hiking, skiing, and the national parks.

Student: That’s true. Anyway I’ll have to get my application together in the next month or so, and I’ll need two letters of recommendation, one from a professor in my major department.

Professor: Consider it done.

Student: Thanks.