NARRATOR：

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

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

How's it going, Tom?

MALE STUDENT：

Great. I was- oh! I wanted to tell you... y'know the guest speaker you brought into class last week, from the wildlife conservation center?

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Susan Brown, yes. She's an old friend from graduate school.

MALE STUDENT：

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

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

[affırming] Mmm. It was certainly a change of pace from what we usually do.

MALE STUDENT：

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

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

[remembering] Oh right... ecology's 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.

MALE STUDENT：

Um, anyway, what I...Well, a while ago, I saw this blurb in the school paper about a- an exchange program, that's part of the study-abroad office... uh, and today there was a booth set up in the student center with a coupla students answering questions about the university's programs in foreign countries.

Seeing the booth reminded me about the article in the paper and...

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Thinking about going abroad in the coming year?

MALE STUDENT：

[No.] Actually, I just spent last summer studying in Tokyo... I think that satisfied my urge to travel...

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

It must've been quite an experience.

MALE 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.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

[baffled, intrigued] I don't think I've heard of that.

MALE STUDENT：

[lightly] 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're part of a- a group of universities throughout the U.S. that does a domestic-exchange program.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Huh! So, you spend, what, a year at another university, and your classes count toward your degree here...?

MALE STUDENT：

Yeah, and I'd pay the same fees... tuition, room, and board... that I pay here. So it doesn't really cost any extra.

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Interesting.

MALE 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... [serious] I'm interested in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

It's such an important ecosystem, being the source of three major rivers, and I want to learn more about it.

FEMALE 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...

MALE STUDENT：

[not interested in that] That's true. Uh, 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...

FEMALE PROFESSOR：

Consider it done.

MALE STUDENT：

Thanks.