Seattle Colleges International Programs presents... Conversations with!

S3E40: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International Student Diara Diouf of Switzerland

Evan Franulovich Season 3 Episode 40

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In this our fortieth (40th) episode of Season 3, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews international student Diara Diouf of Switzerland about her experience here at Seattle Colleges and about life in the United States. 

1:19 - Meet Diara!

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Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show 'Conversations with!', where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Evan Franulovich  1:08  
Welcome back to Seattle Colleges 'Conversations with!' I'm really excited because today is our first guest from the country of Switzerland. Welcome. 

Diara Diouf  1:19  
Hi. 

Evan Franulovich  1:20  
Can you tell everybody who you are, what you're studying, how long you've been here, that kind of stuff. 

Diara Diouf  1:26  
Okay, I'm Diara. I'm a major in anthropology.

Evan Franulovich  1:34  
Oh, you're my first anthropology guest. Yay. 

Diara Diouf  1:36  
Yeah, I just switched from biology to anthropology. 

Evan Franulovich  1:40  
Wow. Why'd you switch? 

Diara Diouf  1:42  
I wanted to do neurosurgery at the end. 

Evan Franulovich  1:47  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  1:48  
And then I saw that I had to take calculus, and math is not me. 

Evan Franulovich  1:52  
Scary. 

Diara Diouf  1:53  
And then I thought, I always wanted to do anthology, and there's no calculus. 

Evan Franulovich  1:58  
Yeah. 

Diara Diouf  1:59  
Hey. Why not? 

Evan Franulovich  2:00  
Wow, that's cool that you're able to switch easily.

Diara Diouf  2:04  
My first week switched already. 

Evan Franulovich  2:07  
Nice.

Diara Diouf  2:09  
I was fast.

Evan Franulovich  2:10  
Okay, and you've been here how long? I can't remember. 

Diara Diouf  2:12  
I came end of November. 

Evan Franulovich  2:14  
End of November. 

Diara Diouf  2:15  
November 30, I think. 

Evan Franulovich  2:17  
Yeah, yeah. So, not too long yet. 

Diara Diouf  2:19  
No, not too long. I've been here for three months in summer.

Evan Franulovich  2:23  
Oh, what were you doing for three months in the summer? 

Diara Diouf  2:26  
Absolutely nothing. 

Evan Franulovich  2:28  
Just touring? 

Diara Diouf  2:29  
Just hiking, enjoying Seattle in the summertime. And then I went back home.

Evan Franulovich  2:35  
Oh, so you came as a tourist first.

Diara Diouf  2:37  
I came as a tourist first, with a 90 day visa, and then went back home. I had to go back home, and then I had to wait till November to come back in.

Evan Franulovich  2:49  
Okay, well, let's go back, because I'm curious about getting a tourist visa, then going back. So you got your tourist visa first. 

Diara Diouf  2:58  
The tourist visa is two years. 

Evan Franulovich  3:01  
Oh, okay. 

Diara Diouf  3:02  
And it's always 90 days. 

Evan Franulovich  3:04  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  3:04  
So I booked it for three months. But for the school visa, took me 10 minutes. Switzerland is a fast process. 

Evan Franulovich  3:14  
Wow. 

Diara Diouf  3:16  
You apply for it online. You go to the US embassy, check in, and then you just hand in your passport. Then they ask you what you're going to do, what you want to study, and which school you're going to. They look at you and say, "Okay, here you go."

Evan Franulovich  3:41  
Wow. 

Diara Diouf  3:41  
You get a stamp, and that's it. You go pay for it. They ask if you want to do the one year or the five year visa. 

Evan Franulovich  3:48  
Oh, would you choose? 

Diara Diouf  3:50  
I took the one year. But even if it expires, I can just call the embassy. I don't have to go back to Switzerland. I can ask for an extension, and then I'll do the four or five years again. 

Evan Franulovich  4:09  
Right, right. 

Diara Diouf  4:09  
Yeah, it's only $150 or $200. 

Evan Franulovich  4:16  
All right. You guys don't use euro, right? You're still in the frame. 

Diara Diouf  4:22  
Yeah, it's expensive. 

Evan Franulovich  4:25  
It's expensive. Okay. Well, that's great. So you were a little kid in Switzerland. 

Diara Diouf  4:31  
Born and raised. 

Evan Franulovich  4:33  
In Basel? 

Diara Diouf  4:34  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  4:35  
Nice. Been there, it's great. Do you travel around the country a lot? Do you get to go around? 

Diara Diouf  4:40  
Yes, everywhere. 

Evan Franulovich  4:41  
It's a beautiful country, right? 

Diara Diouf  4:42  
It's awesome. I was in the scouts. 

Evan Franulovich  4:47  
Me too, not in Switzerland. 

Diara Diouf  4:51  
Our scouts is a bit different from here, it's not just girls and just boys. We have a group of boys, just girls and just boys, but we are mixed group. 

Evan Franulovich  5:01  
Yeah, of course. 

Diara Diouf  5:04  
And we also went to Denmark. We went to South of France. 

Evan Franulovich  5:08  
Wow. 

Diara Diouf  5:09  
But I've been to Spain and everywhere.

Evan Franulovich  5:11  
Camping in all these places?

Diara Diouf  5:12  
No. I camped in Italy. I've been in Italy multiple times, like different spaces, even with school. But I camped to southern France and Denmark and the entirety of Switzerland. 

Evan Franulovich  5:29  
Gotcha. So I'm just curious. This is going to be a little bit of an aside, so just hang in there if you're listening, because I was in scouts here in the United States. Used to be very separated boys girls, but now they've kind of mixed it together. Now they just call it Scouts of America. But in Europe, how many people do you have in your troop? Do they call it a troop? That's a group. 

Diara Diouf  5:51  
Okay, so we have a system. We have more than 100 people per scout. So we have kids our ages. 

Evan Franulovich  6:02  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  6:03  
So we got the Beavers, the Younglings.

Evan Franulovich  6:07  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  6:07  
So it's between four and six. 

Evan Franulovich  6:09  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  6:10  
And then we have the Wolves. They're from 6 to 11. 

Evan Franulovich  6:14  
Okay.

Diara Diouf  6:15  
And then we have the...I don't know. 

Evan Franulovich  6:23  
So be like the 12 year olds. 

Diara Diouf  6:29  
The Teenies. I don't remember the name. But yeah, we have the Teenies. And then we have the Pioneers, 16-18 years old, and you become a scout leader. 

Evan Franulovich  6:47  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  6:47  
We didn't have the beavers back then. I've been a member, since 2006. 

Evan Franulovich  6:52  
So quite a while. 

Diara Diouf  6:53  
Yeah, I dropped out a few years ago. But 18 years was enough for me to do that. 

Evan Franulovich  6:57  
It's a long time. 

Diara Diouf  6:58  
It's a long, long time. And then we have people who are higher up than us, just to get the structure of it. We have 50 different groups in Switzerland. 

Evan Franulovich  7:09  
Wow. 

Diara Diouf  7:10  
Just Basel alone has already 40 or 50. Oh, so every canton has more and more. 

Evan Franulovich  7:17  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  7:17  
I don't know if you heard about Jamboree. 

Evan Franulovich  7:20  
Yes, of course. 

Diara Diouf  7:21  
Of course, yeah. Every eight years? 

Evan Franulovich  7:26  
It's every four years. 

Diara Diouf  7:27  
Yes, I think it's every four years. And I think the last time was here in America. 

Evan Franulovich  7:33  
Oh, the world Jamboree? 

Diara Diouf  7:35  
Yeah, yeah. It's expensive. I didn't go because it's almost $10,000 for us that we have to spend. So, the last one was in America, and the one before that was South Korea, and that one before that was in Japan. 

Evan Franulovich  7:49  
Amazing. 

Diara Diouf  7:49  
So you get to go everywhere. But the delegation of Switzerland is very small, because it's only 10 people. 

Evan Franulovich  7:57  
Right. Wow. 

Diara Diouf  7:58  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  7:59  
Cool. In our scout troops, we do things like 50 miler backpacking trips, or do you guys do anything like that?

Diara Diouf  8:10  
It's a bit different. So we the leaders, meet every week on Mondays. 

Evan Franulovich  8:14  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  8:15  
And we plan what we're going to do for the weekend, and we always have a theme for it. So we write a script for what we're going to do with the storyline, what games we're going to play. And then when Saturday rolls on, a few hours earlier, we meet and we put on the costumes and stuff and go through the storyline with the kids. And then we have a little lunch break out. 

Evan Franulovich  8:46  
Yeah? Cool. 

Diara Diouf  8:48  
And then we continue till 5:30. 

Evan Franulovich  8:50  
Oh, that's good, cool. 

Diara Diouf  8:52  
Sometimes for nighttime activities, we meet at seven or eight. It's gonna be like three or four hours. They come because they love that, because they get to fight in some type of way. We play the rivals or something like villains, and then we have to conquer the villain to save someone or anything.

Evan Franulovich  9:15  
Sure. What about campfire programs? In Scout troops In the US, campfires are very central part of when you go out and camp, or you're at a Jamboree or a Camporee or something. Do you guys do campfire programs where you sit around fire and sing songs?

Diara Diouf  9:29  
Doing the activities. When we have the nighttime activity, we have a fire, eat dinner together. 

Evan Franulovich  9:37  
Sure. 

Diara Diouf  9:37  
Everyone bring something. But during the camps, we do have a fire. It's not every night, but we call it a sing song. 

Evan Franulovich  9:44  
Oh, sure, okay. 

Diara Diouf  9:45  
Every third night or something, and we just all sit around with each other, and we have this own song of ours that we sing, and it just goes around, and someone gets to pick a song, and someone else's. Then we all sing it, and then someone else, 

Evan Franulovich  9:59  
Awesome! 

Diara Diouf  10:00  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  10:01  
Did you ever have someone from the United States visit your troop?

Diara Diouf  10:07  
No, we've met. We call it Carla, It's like a can from all the cantons together. And we met some scouts from other other countries. 

Evan Franulovich  10:22  
Cool.

Diara Diouf  10:22  
The Bula. That's another event that happened like that was just every eight years. Didn't get to get to the first one because I was too young, but I went to the second one. 

Evan Franulovich  10:39  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  10:32  
And the thing is that we had people from England, we had Irish, we had Scottish. 

Evan Franulovich  10:39  
All different uniforms.

Diara Diouf  10:42  
Yeah, just a bit different, because we have all the same uniforms. It's like just three different colors. 

Speaker 1  10:48  
And you put patches on your uniform. 

Diara Diouf  10:51  
The patches that you get were not really patches like here in America. We got more prints on the back from every camp, because we make a print for it for the kids. So my uniforms are full, and my tie with a special knot.

Speaker 1  11:07  
Little bandana, we called it that kerchief.

Diara Diouf  11:11  
It's funny, because everyone has their own color. Ours was blue, and you're red. And, for example, the Irish have clovers on them. 

Evan Franulovich  11:17  
Of course, yeah. 

Diara Diouf  11:19  
And we always bring two so we can exchange with other people. I've got six different ones. 

Evan Franulovich  11:25  
Wow. 

Diara Diouf  11:25  
And my old one is already falling apart. It was with tape and everything together. 

Evan Franulovich  11:31  
That's really cool. When I was an exchange student in Belgium for a year. I did some activities with the local scouts there. It was a lot of fun. We did day hiking, and I wore my uniform, they had theirs. Yeah, it was a little different. But I really loved it, it was good. Any kind of chance I get to do world scouting, I try to do it.

Diara Diouf  11:51  
I want to do it here at one point, because I want to see how different it is from back home.

Evan Franulovich  11:56  
Yeah, for sure. Well, right near where I live. I live on a lake, and right across the lake, up the hill, there's a scout camp. 

Diara Diouf  11:56  
Oh, okay. 

Evan Franulovich  11:56  
Come check it out. 

Diara Diouf  11:59  
Yeah, I will definitely. 

Evan Franulovich  12:06  
Take you up there. All right. I know that was a big aside, so if you're in the scouting we want to talk to you. We love that, so that's really cool. Okay, so you're a young woman in Switzerland, you always knew you wanted to go study abroad, or was this something...? 

Diara Diouf  12:26  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  12:26  
Oh, you did.

Diara Diouf  12:27  
Well, not just study. I always wanted to live abroad.

Evan Franulovich  12:31  
You did, okay? 

Diara Diouf  12:31  
I never wanted to stay there. 

Evan Franulovich  12:33  
Always America, or did you think Australia?

Diara Diouf  12:36  
Never America. 

Evan Franulovich  12:37  
Really? What are you doing here?

Diara Diouf  12:39  
I actually wanted to go to England. 

Evan Franulovich  12:42  
Oh, wow. 

Diara Diouf  12:43  
England has always been my dream. Love it there. I always go back to London. I know I should see other places. 

Evan Franulovich  12:50  
London, a great town. 

Diara Diouf  12:51  
Yeah, but I kind of wanted to move to Scotland, because I like the countryside and America was accidental. 

Evan Franulovich  12:59  
Oh, tell us how?

Diara Diouf  13:03  
I had planned to go on a road trip to Ireland. 

Evan Franulovich  13:07  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  13:08  
I was sitting in my office, just doing that, planning the trip to Ireland. I wanted to book a flight, and then I saw that there was a cheap flight for New Orleans. In that moment, I just booked it. And a few moments from later, I realized, 'Oh, damn, I booked for New Orleans instead of island.' And then I was like, 'Oh, guess I'm going to America for my first trip.' 

Evan Franulovich  13:36  
That is so odd. 

Diara Diouf  13:38  
I went for two weeks. One month later, spent two weeks in America.

Evan Franulovich  13:43  
Two weeks in New Orleans? 

Diara Diouf  13:44  
Two weeks in New Orleans.

Evan Franulovich  13:45  
You drove around Louisiana?

Diara Diouf  13:47  
No, no, no. I've never been to America at all. So that was my first time ever in New Orleans. I didn't know it at the time, but I was living at a quite dangerous place. 

Evan Franulovich  13:57  
I'm sure. 

Diara Diouf  13:58  
No one told me, and I was walking around at night and no one told me that I shouldn't do that. That's not safe, but Switzerland is quite safe. 

Evan Franulovich  14:08  
Switzerland is very safe. 

Diara Diouf  14:09  
Yes.

Evan Franulovich  14:10  
You're okay? 

Diara Diouf  14:11  
Oh, yeah, of course. 

Evan Franulovich  14:13  
No one bothered you?

Diara Diouf  14:15  
No, I had so much fun. I really enjoyed it. 

Evan Franulovich  14:17  
What was your favorite part of New Orleans?

Diara Diouf  14:20  
I tour a lot. I do every tour that I can. Of course, I've visited the French Quarter and things. We went kayaking on the swamp. 

Evan Franulovich  14:34  
On the swamp. 

Diara Diouf  14:35  
And someone wanted to do six hours. It was with gators. Yeah, and I can't remember when I've ever been kayaking. I was scared. 

Evan Franulovich  14:48  
I'll bet. 

Diara Diouf  14:49  
But it was awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  14:50  
But the alligators didn't bother you. 

Diara Diouf  14:53  
No, they were pretty close. The two guys said, 'If they come, just tap them on their face.' I tried to stop my kayak. New Orleans is just full of history. I did the history tours. 

Evan Franulovich  15:13  
That's cool. Did you do a haunted?

Diara Diouf  15:16  
Of course. How can you not?

Evan Franulovich  15:19  
Did you see anything? 

Diara Diouf  15:20  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  15:20  
No, of course. 

Diara Diouf  15:21  
I wish. 

Evan Franulovich  15:22  
Do you believe in ghosts? 

Diara Diouf  15:23  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  15:25  
It's my first question. I think maybe there might be something going on down in New Orleans. It seems like a spooky place.

Diara Diouf  15:35  
Yeah, but they do have a lot of voodoo dolls. I did the Voodoo doll as well, because I learned some of it from shows, so I was interested. But these people are very nice. 

Evan Franulovich  15:50  
Yeah. 

Diara Diouf  15:50  
Southern hospitality is real there, but a bit cuckoo. Nothing against the people. 

Evan Franulovich  15:56  
Well, it's funny, because we have a lot of international students, and I ask them if they travel around, they usually go to San Francisco, LA, maybe Vegas. Not many have said New Orleans. So yeah, think about it guys, when you come to the US, go check it out. It's very different. I was stationed just in Mississippi, so when we had time off, we would go to New Orleans. 

Diara Diouf  16:23  
It's more fun. 

Evan Franulovich  16:24  
Did you try eating alligator? 

Diara Diouf  16:26  
No, I haven't tried that yet. 

Evan Franulovich  16:28  
It's not bad.

Diara Diouf  16:33  
I'm very iffy. I'm a picky person. I did try gumbo. 

Evan Franulovich  16:41  
Of course. 

Diara Diouf  16:42  
Made from a family member. 

Evan Franulovich  16:45  
Oh, you have family in New Orleans?

Diara Diouf  16:53  
In laws. My in laws are all from New Orleans. 

Evan Franulovich  16:55  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  16:56  
And they made me gumbo. 

Evan Franulovich  16:58  
So your partner from Louisiana? 

Diara Diouf  17:01  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  17:02  
Oh, that's cool.

Diara Diouf  17:04  
New Orleans.

Evan Franulovich  17:05  
Very cool. 

Diara Diouf  17:06  
Looks like that's the perfect spot. It's my favorite city, just historically,

Evan Franulovich  17:12  
Okay, so you knew you were gonna come overseas somewhere. You didn't think it would be America. You came to Seattle, why Seattle Colleges? Did you look around for just a school that would...?

Speaker 2  17:26  
I actually looked for jobs first, because I wanted to come on a work visa. 

Evan Franulovich  17:31  
Gotcha. 

Diara Diouf  17:32  
But the work visa process was just crazy. I don't know if I found it like that. I thought about North, so I registered for North first. And then my cousin told me that she works here. 

Evan Franulovich  17:52  
You have cousin here? 

Diara Diouf  17:54  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  17:55  
In international programs or...?

Diara Diouf  17:56  
No, she's up. 

Evan Franulovich  17:58  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  18:00  
Higher up. 

Evan Franulovich  18:01  
What does she do? What's her job?

Diara Diouf  18:04  
She's the president. 

Evan Franulovich  18:05  
What?! That's awesome. 

Diara Diouf  18:09  
In law cousin. 

Evan Franulovich  18:12  
Nice. 

Diara Diouf  18:12  
I never see her, though.

Evan Franulovich  18:15  
Well, she'll see this podcast probably, for sure. I'll make sure I send her a message. 

Diara Diouf  18:19  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  18:19  
That's great. 

Diara Diouf  18:24  
She said I should come here to Central. And two Christmases ago, she she showed us around the campus a bit. It was closed, but we went to see the play 'Black Nativity' It was really great. And I was like, 'Okay, so this going to be my future campus.' So I already knew two years ago that I'm just gonna come here. 

Evan Franulovich  18:45  
Have you been to North though? Did you go look at that campus? 

Speaker 2  18:48  
Yeah, when I went to the snow tubing. 

Evan Franulovich  18:52  
Oh, how was it? 

Diara Diouf  18:53  
It was awesome.

Evan Franulovich  18:55  
We have a lot of activities for students, and the one you're talking about this year, snow tubing. 

Diara Diouf  19:00  
Snow tubing. 

Evan Franulovich  19:00  
But you've seen snow before. 

Diara Diouf  19:02  
Of course. It's awesome because it was cheap. 

Evan Franulovich  19:08  
Yes, it was very cheap. 

Diara Diouf  19:09  
It's $15 with the group, and if you go on your own, it's $100 per person. 

Evan Franulovich  19:15  
Right, right.

Diara Diouf  19:16  
It's $100-$210, I'm not doing that. 

Evan Franulovich  19:18  
Super cheap. They put you on a bus. They also took you to the falls too, right? 

Diara Diouf  19:22  
We did three stops, actually. So the first stop was the falls, I've been there before, but I still walked. 

Evan Franulovich  19:29  
Yeah. 

Diara Diouf  19:30  
It's so cool every time, because it's beautiful. 

Evan Franulovich  19:32  
It's beautiful, yeah. 

Diara Diouf  19:34  
And then the second stop was somewhere in the mountains just to eat, because they have a restaurant. 

Speaker 1  19:44  
We call them ski slopes, I guess.

Diara Diouf  19:49  
Yeah, a lot of that, lot of people. And then the next stop was the tubing.

Speaker 1  19:54  
Right. So the place where you ate is just right across the road from the tubing?

Diara Diouf  19:57  
Yeah, it's like 5-9 minutes down the road.

Evan Franulovich  20:02  
So if you're a student, check out that activity next winter. Are you gonna go again next year? 

Diara Diouf  20:07  
Yes, if I can, I should still be there, definitely. It was fun, I enjoyed it. 

Evan Franulovich  20:14  
So you applied, you get accepted. What was the program you applied for? 

Diara Diouf  20:18  
Biology. 

Evan Franulovich  20:19  
And that's a two year associate degree that you're looking at? 

Diara Diouf  20:23  
Yes, but it's a transfer. 

Evan Franulovich  20:25  
But had you already done some university work? 

Diara Diouf  20:29  
No.

Evan Franulovich  20:30  
Oh, so did you go to a private or a public school? 

Diara Diouf  20:35  
I have to say that it's easier to get into college here than a university in Europe, because Switzerland has a strict system. Even though we all went to high school together, we all have a different degree, kinda. So it depends on the grades and whatnot, and if you don't have the grade, you can't go to uni. 

Evan Franulovich  21:04  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  21:05  
Yeah, for us, it's directly uni, but that means I couldn't go. And then here, you guys have the community college and colleges in general, and everyone is kind of accepted. 

Evan Franulovich  21:16  
Exactly. 

Diara Diouf  21:17  
You can even do your high school degree here. 

Evan Franulovich  21:19  
Yes, you can. 

Diara Diouf  21:19  
Yeah, that's not a thing over there. And that was easier to actually get into the school. 

Evan Franulovich  21:25  
Right. So let me get it clear in my head. So you went to high school, graduated. And then you...? 

Diara Diouf  21:39  
Work for six years. 

Evan Franulovich  21:40  
You did work for six to seven years.

Diara Diouf  21:42  
I graduated in 2016-17, and then I studied as a dentist assistant. It takes us three years. Yeah, it's a bit faster. Everything here is a bit faster, but we need to do everything for three years. 

Evan Franulovich  21:48  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  21:53  
To just learn every single process. And then I worked for three to four more years, quit my job, came here.

Evan Franulovich  22:07  
Wow. Did you like being a dental assistant? 

Diara Diouf  22:10  
I hated to. 

Evan Franulovich  22:11  
Why didn't you like it?

Speaker 2  22:13  
I hate teeth. I don't like the mouth. This is a horrible thing to say, but everything about the mouth disgusts me. I applied because I needed to do something, I applied everywhere. I wanted to be nurse, it didn't work out. Paramedic didn't work out. I applied as a dental assistant, and they just took me. I just handed it my resume blindly, I didn't expect anything from it. It took me some time to get used to the mouth, now nothing disgusts me at this point, I'm way over that. 

Evan Franulovich  22:55  
That's awesome. Well, don't do that anymore. Now you're gonna be an anthropologist, which is much better. Okay, so you got your your visa. You came here to Seattle and you have family here, so that's great. 

Diara Diouf  23:13  
I don't. Not really, It's just a cousin and my husband. 

Evan Franulovich  23:13  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  23:14  
My family is all in Europe.

Evan Franulovich  23:19  
So is your husband American, or is he Swiss? Okay, so you don't need to get an F-2 visa for him. He's got his own US passport.

Diara Diouf  23:27  
He's safe. He was born and raised in the US. He's fully American. 

Evan Franulovich  23:27  
Gotcha. How did you guys meet? If you don't mind me asking. 

Diara Diouf  23:31  
We met online. 

Evan Franulovich  23:34  
That's so wild. 

Diara Diouf  23:36  
I was in New Orleans at the time when I met him online, and we met four months later, again, in Florida. 

Evan Franulovich  23:43  
Oh, in Florida. 

Diara Diouf  23:43  
Yeah, we did the universal and Disney World. I've never been. 

Evan Franulovich  23:49  
It's cool. 

Diara Diouf  23:49  
So I was like, 'Oh yes, of course.' The flights were pretty affordable, but then I realized, because it's hurricane season, I didn't know that at the time. I just booked without knowing that hurricane season was a thing, and then I saw that the hurricane just passed, and I flew the next day. I got stuck at the airport almost the entire day. So instead of arriving at  8pm, I arrived at 12.

Evan Franulovich  24:24  
Wow. You a good time?

Diara Diouf  24:28  
I had a brilliant time. 

Evan Franulovich  24:29  
Awesome. 

Diara Diouf  24:29  
It was very fun. 

Evan Franulovich  24:31  
Yeah, I love Epcot Center. I mean, Disney World's great and everything, but I've been to Disneyland in California, so it kind of felt the same. But Epcot is fairly unique. That was really cool, because many countries have pavilions. So you can go to China, for example, or you can go to Ethiopia, you can do the whole coffee ceremony. And I don't know if Switzerland has a pavilion or not, but many countries have little demonstrations of what their culture is like. So it's really cool. 

Diara Diouf  25:04  
Oh, that's awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  25:05  
Recommend it. Haven't been there for years, so it could be totally different now. But when I went, it was like that.

Speaker 2  25:11  
Yeah, that's the thing that we have in Europe, in Germany, the amusement park, that's separated in those different countries.

Evan Franulovich  25:19  
Similar, yeah. For you, it might not be as interesting, but for an American, you step into a European village, it feels like you're in Europe, because the little road.

Diara Diouf  25:32  
It's all different.

Evan Franulovich  25:34  
Okay, so what did your husband do? 

Diara Diouf  25:37  
He's an manufacturing engineer at boeing in the process of becoming a software engineer.

Evan Franulovich  25:45  
Oh, nice, big company. 

Diara Diouf  25:48  
I got lucky. 

Evan Franulovich  25:49  
Did he come to community college? 

Diara Diouf  25:51  
No, he studied in Louisiana. 

Evan Franulovich  25:54  
Oh, he did. 

Diara Diouf  25:54  
He went to the University. I don't know which one, because I keep confusing them.

Evan Franulovich  25:58  
Is he originally from Louisiana? 

Diara Diouf  25:59  
Yeah, yeah. The entire family's from New Orleans. They've been there for centuries.

Evan Franulovich  26:06  
So did the job bring him to Seattle?

Speaker 2  26:10  
Yeah, the funny thing is, we both wanted to move here, but we didn't even know that we both wanted to move here. I didn't know from him, he didn't know for me, and his best friend had already moved as well. His best friend is from New Orleans. And the company was able to transfer him. 

Evan Franulovich  26:28  
So normally, I would ask students what they do for housing, but I'm guessing you guys either have a house or an apartment.

Diara Diouf  26:37  
Apartment. 

Evan Franulovich  26:38  
In Capitol Hill? 

Diara Diouf  26:40  
Everett. 

Evan Franulovich  26:41  
Oh, you come in from Everett.

Diara Diouf  26:44  
I take the car. 

Evan Franulovich  26:45  
Oh, you drive. 

Diara Diouf  26:46  
Yeah, but only halfway to Mountlake Terrace because the parking right there has more spots than Lynnwood. Yeah, because at this time in the morning it's gonna be full. 

Evan Franulovich  26:59  
Right, right. 

Diara Diouf  27:00  
So I go out early. Well, I leave the house around 7:30am.

Evan Franulovich  27:06  
You arrived after the line all the way to Lynnwood was opened? It used to stop at Northgate.

Speaker 2  27:13  
It stops at Lynnwood. But I don't park at Lynwood, because the parking is very small. 

Evan Franulovich  27:13  
It looks big. 

Diara Diouf  27:15  
So I go to Mountlake Terrace, and then I just have to pray that there's a spot, because if it doesn't, then I have to drive further to Northgate to park there. 

Evan Franulovich  27:31  
But Northgate doesn't have a lot of spots either.

Diara Diouf  27:33  
It does, the parking ride is huge.

Evan Franulovich  27:36  
Where is it?

Diara Diouf  27:37  
Um, by the bus station. 

Evan Franulovich  27:39  
Okay, so they are building this new apartment there, and then they have the parking lot. It used to be two parking lots, but now they're building.

Speaker 2  27:51  
The opposite side where the busses lines end, right behind it is the huge parking lot. 

Evan Franulovich  28:00  
But it fills up, doesn't it? 

Diara Diouf  28:01  
No, I've never seen it before. 

Evan Franulovich  28:04  
Is it free?

Diara Diouf  28:05  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  28:07  
I will have to go check it. 

Diara Diouf  28:08  
If you get the right spots, they're free. But I've never seen it full. 

Evan Franulovich  28:13  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  28:13  
For the amount of time I've been here, I've never seen it full.

Evan Franulovich  28:17  
I've been there a few times. One time we had to pay for parking. There's the structure right next to the subway, and then there's the structure right there, and these are paid. 

Diara Diouf  28:30  
Oh. 

Evan Franulovich  28:30  
And then on top, over here, it's paid too. So I'm not sure where the free parking is. 

Diara Diouf  28:35  
Right when you come down. Okay, so here is the line, here is the park house. 

Evan Franulovich  28:42  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  28:43  
And here's the mall. 

Evan Franulovich  28:46  
Yeah. 

Diara Diouf  28:47  
And here is the bus stop, park station, where they park the busses. And then you walk up the little stairs, and then here's the parking lot.

Evan Franulovich  28:58  
Right. Yeah, but it seems like it fills up a lot. 

Diara Diouf  29:00  
Does it?

Evan Franulovich  29:02  
All right. Well, guys get there early for your parking spots if you need to. How's your experience been with our public transportation? 

Diara Diouf  29:10  
Good.

Evan Franulovich  29:11  
Me too.

Diara Diouf  29:12  
So far so good. I didn't expect it to be good. 

Evan Franulovich  29:15  
Really? 

Diara Diouf  29:16  
Just hearing about public transit.

Evan Franulovich  29:19  
I know America's not known for it's public transit. 

Diara Diouf  29:21  
I come from Switzerland, so it was just different. 

Evan Franulovich  29:25  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  29:26  
You guys don't have to press the buttons. It's more efficient, it's faster. It doesn't stop every two minutes. 

Evan Franulovich  29:37  
Oh yeah. It's true. 

Diara Diouf  29:38  
And if it sees no one, it just goes.

Evan Franulovich  29:43  
It really is good. One of the benefits of Seattle is that we have such a great public transit.

Diara Diouf  29:48  
And the school is right on. You can come using the bus or with the line. 

Evan Franulovich  29:51  
So from Everett, does it take you about 30 minutes to get here? 

Diara Diouf  29:54  
Yeah, 25 minutes with the line.

Evan Franulovich  29:55  
Cool. Why Everett? Because Boeing's up by Mukilteo? 

Diara Diouf  29:57  
Yeah, we live by there, four minutes from Boeing. 

Evan Franulovich  30:07  
It was cheaper. 

Diara Diouf  30:08  
Do you ever fly out of Paine field? We have two airports. We have the SeaTac airport, which most international students fly to. Because I know Alaska has some flights that leave from Everett.

Evan Franulovich  30:23  
It's super convenient. 

Diara Diouf  30:24  
Yeah, I want to, but I can't travel out of the country, and then I don't have time to travel. I'm a full time student, I can't go every weekend. 

Evan Franulovich  30:36  
That's true. 

Diara Diouf  30:37  
Homework and stuff.

Evan Franulovich  30:38  
Well, let's bring it back to being a student. We are going all over the place today. So your new program as an anthropology student, have you already taken an anthropology course? 

Diara Diouf  30:49  
I'm in my first one. 

Evan Franulovich  30:50  
Oh, good. How's it going? 

Diara Diouf  30:51  
Awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  30:52  
Yeah? 

Diara Diouf  30:53  
Love it. 

Evan Franulovich  30:53  
What kinds of things are you studying? What's the name of the course? 

Diara Diouf  30:56  
It's survey of anthropology. 

Evan Franulovich  30:58  
Okay. 

Diara Diouf  30:58  
Anthropology 100 with Chris.. 

Evan Franulovich  31:00  
Sure, okay. 

Diara Diouf  31:02  
Awesome teacher. 

Evan Franulovich  31:04  
Shout out to Chris. 

Diara Diouf  31:06  
Thank you, Chris. It's just talking about the four different types of anthropologies, just so we can look at all of the different sub groups. Yeah, because anthropology is a broad field, it is a big field. 

Evan Franulovich  31:28  
Have you found that the educational system, like the delivery of material, the teaching methodologies, is a lot different than what you were used to in Switzerland? 

Diara Diouf  31:38  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  31:38  
In what ways? 

Diara Diouf  31:40  
The thing in Switzerland, you can't miss any classes. 

Evan Franulovich  31:47  
Oh, it's very strict. 

Diara Diouf  31:49  
It's very strict. And here is some student come, some students don't come from time to time. So I'm always watching, and I'm wondering, why don't you come to class?

Evan Franulovich  31:58  
You're paying for it. 

Diara Diouf  31:59  
You're paying for it exactly. You actually pay for it, because Switzerland school system, we don't pay for it. 

Evan Franulovich  32:05  
Right.

Diara Diouf  32:05  
The state pays for it, but we still go like, we're still there. But here people just do whatever they want. They come in anytime they want, just halfway through. Some people come five minutes before class, and why are you bothering tocome you, missed the entire thing. The tables are already different, since it's just one chair. 

Evan Franulovich  32:34  
Right, yeah. 

Diara Diouf  32:34  
Yeah, and it's not a lot of writing. It's just you take your notes, when you want to take your notes, but you don't have to. 

Evan Franulovich  32:44  
You could just sit there like this and watch. 

Diara Diouf  32:46  
You can just sit there and listen to the entire class. You don't have to take note anything. And there's No write after me, I'm gonna write it on the wall.' 

Evan Franulovich  32:56  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  32:57  
And the teachers are more communitive.

Evan Franulovich  33:00  
They're conversational. 

Diara Diouf  33:03  
Yeah, more conversational, and we get to call them by the first name. 

Evan Franulovich  33:06  
Weird. 

Diara Diouf  33:07  
It's very weird. I don't know if that's just Seattle. It's just very weird because we know only last names, and we get called by our last names. And here, we call you by whatever you want to be called. 

Evan Franulovich  33:24  
It's very familiar. 

Diara Diouf  33:25  
They make us equal. But for me, it's like, how? You guys are teachers, you're above us. So it's a bit weird to get into thatculture. 

Evan Franulovich  33:37  
So which do you like better? Which style the prefer? 

Diara Diouf  33:41  
I like this one. 

Evan Franulovich  33:42  
You like this one? 

Diara Diouf  33:42  
They try to pull us into the teaching. 

Evan Franulovich  33:49  
Yeah. 

Diara Diouf  33:50  
It's not just talk, and we just listen. It's interactive, and I like that, it makes me more active in the brain a bit. 

Evan Franulovich  34:01  
So I taught in China for a while. I taught at a university there, and what I found is they were expecting not to participate. They just were waiting to take notes or whatever. So when I'm trying to engage them, they were pretty shy. Were you put off? Or were you freaked a little bit at first? Or was this like, 'Oh, this is great. I love this kind of style.' 

Diara Diouf  34:22  
It was great. 

Evan Franulovich  34:23  
It was great. 

Diara Diouf  34:23  
In the beginning, I'm not as shy. I remember sitting there, I suppose I'll just listen a bit. But I always sit in the front, I don't like sitting in the back. 

Evan Franulovich  34:35  
Good Idea. 

Diara Diouf  34:37  
Because if I sit in the back, maybe I don't see what they're writing. 

Evan Franulovich  34:41  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  34:42  
Maybe I didn't hear them, but sitting in front is more for me to be active and not fall asleep.

Evan Franulovich  34:48  
It's great, yeah. So when I was young, there was this product that they sold on TV, and it was a methodology for getting good grades in school, and it was called where there is a will, there's an A. And it came on little cassette tapes. That's how old I am. So we put in the cassette, and I'd listen to this. And one of the things they recommend is, if you want to do well in your classes, sit in the front rows. 

Diara Diouf  35:12  
Okay. 

Evan Franulovich  35:12  
You get more interaction with the teachers. You're more focused. So there's a tip if you want to keep your grades high.

Diara Diouf  35:19  
Sit in front.

Evan Franulovich  35:20  
Sit in the front.

Diara Diouf  35:21  
Sit in the front. 

Evan Franulovich  35:22  
Speaking of keeping your grades high, good grades sometimes lead to scholarships. Did you apply for the Foundation Scholarship?

Diara Diouf  35:29  
I did. It took me a long time. I did it two days before the night. I just pushed it back. 

Evan Franulovich  35:37  
Right, right. 

Diara Diouf  35:38  
I was just procrastinating.

Evan Franulovich  35:40  
It opens in January, closes in March. Don't wait till March, like she did. Do it a little earlier. 

Diara Diouf  35:48  
Yeah, I was just lazy to.

Evan Franulovich  35:51  
But at least you put in your application.

Diara Diouf  35:53  
Yeah, yeah. Oh, he we put it in class, we had to write it in class. And then at one point, I said I'm not gonna apply. 

Evan Franulovich  36:00  
Why? 

Diara Diouf  36:02  
Because I'm too lazy. 

Evan Franulovich  36:03  
It's just too much work. 

Diara Diouf  36:04  
No, it's not. No, I love writing. 

Evan Franulovich  36:08  
That's the big work, isn't it? 

Diara Diouf  36:11  
Well, I was just too lazy to write a professional manner.

Evan Franulovich  36:18  
Well, good luck, because I know they'll make decisions at the end of May, I think is when you hear back.

Diara Diouf  36:24  
Yeah, but so many students.

Evan Franulovich  36:26  
Well, they say 50% get the scholarship, so it's really a coin flip. 

Diara Diouf  36:31  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  36:31  
Good luck. 

Diara Diouf  36:32  
Thank you. 

Evan Franulovich  36:33  
Have you applied for any other scholarships, like the LewerMark scholarship?

Diara Diouf  36:39  
That was the only scholarship I applied for. 

Evan Franulovich  36:41  
Grades are good? 

Diara Diouf  36:42  
Grades are good. 

Evan Franulovich  36:43  
So did you get into Phi Theta Kappa?

Diara Diouf  36:46  
Yes, I did. 

Evan Franulovich  36:48  
And you joined? 

Diara Diouf  36:49  
I did. 

Evan Franulovich  36:49  
They have scholarships too. So lots of opportunities out there, you have to apply. 

Diara Diouf  36:56  
I need to get over myself and actually do that before it's too late. 

Evan Franulovich  37:02  
Well, summer's coming. Are you gonna take a vacation quarter during the summer? 

Speaker 2  37:06  
We're not allowed to. We're not because we as international students need to take three quarters first before we take it.

Evan Franulovich  37:15  
I was under the impression that if you started... Well, you started in November.

Diara Diouf  37:20  
No, I started winter quarter, so that's January. 

Evan Franulovich  37:24  
Ask the front desk, because I think if you arrive in winter or spring, even though you haven't done three quarters, you can take a vacation quarter. 

Diara Diouf  37:32  
Oh, okay. 

Evan Franulovich  37:33  
And then you get back on a normal three quarters. 

Diara Diouf  37:35  
Yeah, but I'm not gonna. 

Evan Franulovich  37:37  
You're not gonna.

Speaker 2  37:38  
I'm finishing in the spring. I mapped out everything already. 

Evan Franulovich  37:43  
Okay, cool.

Diara Diouf  37:44  
I'm organized. 

Evan Franulovich  37:45  
Actually, going to school the summer is kind of nice because it's a little quieter. 

Diara Diouf  37:47  
It's only 2 months.

Evan Franulovich  37:48  
It's a little shorter. 

Diara Diouf  37:49  
Guys get it through, get through it.

Evan Franulovich  37:53  
It's two months. But the other thing about the summer quarter is it's the best weather we have in Seattle, and it's glorious during the summer usually.

Speaker 2  38:00  
Yeah, but why not? I'm not gonna be here for three. I'm gonna take three courses. 

Evan Franulovich  38:09  
I think that's smart, yeah. 

Diara Diouf  38:10  
And then just get them done. And we got a month break afterwards, anyways, because I would not know what to do with three months of free time.

Evan Franulovich  38:18  
Oh, it would be a lot. 

Diara Diouf  38:19  
And especially if I can't work, what am I going to?

Evan Franulovich  38:22  
So what are you going to do with your one month? 

Diara Diouf  38:26  
If I can, if it's allowed to, I would travel back home.

Evan Franulovich  38:31  
Oh, why wouldn't you be able to? 

Diara Diouf  38:33  
Because we get stuck at the border. 

Evan Franulovich  38:36  
Nerve wracking, yeah. 

Diara Diouf  38:37  
I might not come back in. 

Evan Franulovich  38:38  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  38:39  
And I don't want that really. 

Evan Franulovich  38:42  
Sure, sure. 

Diara Diouf  38:43  
Yeah, just visit the family and then do my trip to Scotland, and then travel around the world a bit.

Evan Franulovich  38:51  
Well, if you decide not to leave the country, it's a big country, you can go to Alaska, Hawaii.

Diara Diouf  38:56  
Oh, I'm doing that in between the little break that we have two weeks or something. 

Evan Franulovich  39:01  
Is your husband a traveler too? 

Diara Diouf  39:03  
He has to be. He likes to travel. He hasn't been outside of the US till he met me, because I bought him to Switzerland. But he's getting into it, so we're gonna try to travel.

Evan Franulovich  39:20  
Yeah, cool. And how did he like Switzerland? 

Diara Diouf  39:25  
He looked cold. 

Evan Franulovich  39:26  
He thought it was cold. 

Diara Diouf  39:27  
He was there in the winter both times, so it was very cold for him. And we even went into the snow, so it's not for him.

Evan Franulovich  39:34  
But it's not that much colder than Seattle. 

Diara Diouf  39:36  
He doesn't like it, not a cold person. He doesn't like the cold. I love it, he hates it. We're opposites. 

Evan Franulovich  39:45  
Well, the nice thing about Seattle is you kind of get a little bit of both worlds. 

Diara Diouf  39:49  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  39:50  
Summer's really nice, and then winter's not too cold, but it's cold enough. We don't usually get snow in the city, you have to go up to the mountains.

Diara Diouf  39:54  
Oh, yeah. But even now, or last week, when it was actually warm, it was still cold for him, and he still wears his jacket. I'm like, 'What were you doing? It's very warm.' 

Evan Franulovich  40:06  
Oh, do you hear that? It's Trivia Time. It's the part of the show where I ask you five questions. If you get them all right, you're on our wall of fame. If you get one wrong, you're gonna cry yourself to sleep tonight. Tough. Okay, first question: Because you were a dental worker for a number of years, I need to ask you, what do you call this in English? What do you call this space? 

Diara Diouf  40:36  
Tooth gap. 

Evan Franulovich  40:36  
It's a tooth gap, but there's an official word for it. You know the word?

Diara Diouf  40:41  
Absolutely not.

Evan Franulovich  40:43  
It's called a diastema. 

Diara Diouf  40:44  
Oh, okay,

Evan Franulovich  40:46  
Yes, I've been blessed with a diastema. And I think in some countries call it 'Le don de chance.' 

Diara Diouf  40:52  
Oh. 

Evan Franulovich  40:53  
Teeth of luck.

Diara Diouf  40:56  
My entire family has one. 

Evan Franulovich  40:57  
Really? 

Diara Diouf  40:58  
Yeah, yeah.

Evan Franulovich  40:59  
I think we're related. 

Diara Diouf  41:02  
We might be, we never know.

Evan Franulovich  41:05  
Okay, question number two: Since you're in the state of Washington, we have three national parks surrounding our city. Can you name one of them?

Diara Diouf  41:15  
National Parks, right? Surrounding Seattle? 

Evan Franulovich  41:20  
Yeah, we have three kind of like, Yellowstone is a national park. Grand Canyon is a national park. Do you know what the big national parks are? 

Diara Diouf  41:28  
Olympic? 

Evan Franulovich  41:28  
Yes, good job.

Diara Diouf  41:30  
Um, what's the one to the east? 

Evan Franulovich  41:36  
Big Mountain out here. 

Diara Diouf  41:37  
Mount Rainier. 

Evan Franulovich  41:38  
Mount Rainier National Park. And the north of the city? I mean, it's right along the Canadian border. Kind of stretches down. It's the North Cascades National Park. Yeah, but you got two of the three.

Speaker 1  41:52  
At least that one, that's really

Evan Franulovich  41:55  
good. Okay, so next question, if you want to leave the country this summer, let's say you want to go home or in your vacation quarter. What do you have to do with your I-20?

Diara Diouf  42:06  
It needs to be signed. 

Evan Franulovich  42:08  
Yes, it needs to be signed. So you want to make sure that happens before you go so you can get back in. Cool. Good job. Question number four: There is a state between California and Washington. What is the name of that state? 

Diara Diouf  42:27  
Which one? 

Evan Franulovich  42:28  
There's only one between California. 

Diara Diouf  42:31  
Oregon?

Evan Franulovich  42:32  
Yes, nice job. Okay, and the final question is, what was the last movie you saw in the movie theater?

Diara Diouf  42:40  
Harry Potter. 

Evan Franulovich  42:41  
Really? 

Diara Diouf  42:42  
The cinema had one in 4D. 

Evan Franulovich  42:42  
Oh my gosh. 

Diara Diouf  42:42  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  42:43  
How was it? 

Diara Diouf  42:44  
Awesome. 

Evan Franulovich  42:47  
Yeah? 

Diara Diouf  42:48  
I've never seen the movies in theater. 

Evan Franulovich  42:52  
Oh. 

Diara Diouf  42:52  
One because I was too young when they came out. 

Evan Franulovich  42:55  
Yeah. 

Diara Diouf  42:57  
They showed it here again in Seattle, in 4D. 

Evan Franulovich  43:00  
Oh my gosh. 

Diara Diouf  43:00  
And the prices were pretty affordable. So I went to every screening. 

Evan Franulovich  43:04  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  43:05  
They only showed the first four.

Evan Franulovich  43:07  
Okay. But I got a question, what is 4D?

Diara Diouf  43:11  
Yeah, that's thing. Americans don't really do 4D. 

Evan Franulovich  43:14  
I mean, there's 3D, I know. 

Diara Diouf  43:15  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  43:16  
Where you wear the glasses. 

Diara Diouf  43:17  
So many people don't know that. So in the movie theater, the chairs move. 

Evan Franulovich  43:23  
What? 

Diara Diouf  43:24  
And it goes with the movie effect. So if it rains, or if there's water in the movie, water will come out of the chair. If there's bubbles in there, it's gonna come bubbles. You're gonna feel the wind, you're gonna feel the rain, you're gonna feel the snow when it snows. 

Evan Franulovich  43:43  
Where did you see this? Where did you see which theater? 

Diara Diouf  43:45  
It's by you, near Westlake. Oh, the what's it called? Regal.

Evan Franulovich  43:46  
Okay. I had no idea there's 4D theaters here. 

Diara Diouf  43:57  
Yeah, that's a that's a thing. Yeah, it's a quite large room as well. 

Evan Franulovich  44:01  
I'll bet. 

Diara Diouf  44:01  
It's very fun, because especially kids movies, because they have everything. But even if it's a dinner scene, you can do like a scenty thing.

Evan Franulovich  44:13  
So you can smell the food? 

Diara Diouf  44:14  
You can smell the sweets and stuff. 

Evan Franulovich  44:16  
That's weird.

Diara Diouf  44:17  
Because I had watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Evan Franulovich  44:21  
Are the tickets more expensive? They must be.

Diara Diouf  44:23  
Not that much. 

Evan Franulovich  44:25  
No? 

Diara Diouf  44:26  
It was around $25.

Evan Franulovich  44:29  
That's quite a bit more. 

Diara Diouf  44:31  
Yeah? 

Evan Franulovich  44:31  
I think the normal ticket's like $12.

Speaker 2  44:33  
I paid $18 for one movie. So it wasn't too much off of the $25 but it was worth it, because you're not doing it every day.

Evan Franulovich  44:42  
Right, right. Do you know which day is the cheap day to go see a movie? 

Diara Diouf  44:47  
I know, I think it's a Tuesday. 

Evan Franulovich  44:48  
Yes. So tip to you college students that are on a budget, go see a movie on a Tuesday, because it's cheap. 

Diara Diouf  44:55  
Cheap Tuesday. 

Evan Franulovich  44:56  
Right on. You can also pay a monthly fee, and you can get unlimited movies at a particular chain, like AMC has a card you can sign up for, I think Regal has a club as well. So you pay, I don't know what it is, $20-25 a month, and you can just go see as many films as you want, and you get a discount at the snack bar. So that's another way you can save money if you really like going to movies. 

Diara Diouf  45:23  
That's good to know. I watched them all at home, but that's good to know. 

Evan Franulovich  45:28  
Well, cool. Great job. The diastema was kind of a tough question, I gotta be honest, that's tough, but otherwise, you did great. So we're at the part of the show now where we start wrapping it up. I always ask our international guests to say something in their first language. And of course, your first language is...? 

Diara Diouf  45:49  
German. 

Evan Franulovich  45:50  
German. 

Diara Diouf  45:50  
Well, Swiss German. 

Evan Franulovich  45:51  
There's four languages in Switzerland: French, German, Italian and Romansh. That's right. Can you speak Romansh? 

Diara Diouf  46:00  
Absolutely no. 

Evan Franulovich  46:01  
Okay. So if you don't mind saying a few things, like 15 seconds worth of you know, you can either say hi to people back home, or you can give people encouragement, or whatever you want to say. 

Diara Diouf  46:37  
Okay, I'm gonna say it in Swiss German. (*Diara's advice in Swiss German*)

Evan Franulovich  46:44  
Nice. It does sound very different. That's awesome. 

Diara Diouf  46:49  
It does.

Evan Franulovich  46:50  
Okay, cool. And then, because you've been through the process, you're a veteran now, you've come to the United States. You've lived here, visited here. What kind of advice would you give to kids back in your region, or even adults that are thinking about being a student in the United States, or maybe they're thinking about coming to a community college or Seattle or whatever?

Diara Diouf  47:10  
I would just say, do it. Doesn't matter the age or anything or the credentials you got before, if they never been to School before. Community college actually lets us do those things again. 

Evan Franulovich  47:23  
Yeah. 

Diara Diouf  47:23  
I would just tell them to just do it. You have nothing to lose. You only live once. 

Evan Franulovich  47:30  
Right. 

Diara Diouf  47:31  
You have only one chance. So just come do it, and when you do it, enjoy it. Just enjoy the ride. 

Evan Franulovich  47:39  
That's good advice. Yeah, I think a lot of people don't understand community colleges. You know, they're less expensive. Open enrollment, getting accepted. And maybe you got so-so grades in your country and weren't able to get into university. Come here, prove yourself and go to a high powered university, graduate with a bachelor's degree from some rank University. It's totally possible that you can start in community college. Glad you're here.

Diara Diouf  48:10  
Thank you. I'm glad too. 

Evan Franulovich  48:11  
Thanks for coming to the interview, it's so great to talk to you. I mean, we've met before, but I haven't had this long a conversation. 

Diara Diouf  48:17  
Oh, yeah. It was always quick and short. 

Evan Franulovich  48:18  
Always grab the students, come be on my podcast. Thanks so much. Thanks to you guys for joining us every Wednesday, right here on 'Conversations with!' Please, like, subscribe, share with everybody you know, we want to get as many people listening in as possible. Have a great day. 

Diara Diouf  48:39  
Thank you, you too.

Evan Franulovich  48:39  
Beautiful outside. Take care! Bye, bye.

Evan Franulovich  48:45  
Conversations with! is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl, that's Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on 'Conversations with!' Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.