This week was the first session of Academic Skills for Successful Exchange Research sTudents. All 21 students were in attendance for the overview of the course by Dr. Takada and Prof. Carlson. This group will be going to many different countries on various continents to carry out research during their project semester. Each session they will practice casual conversation so they can converse with labmates at their destination, work together to organize research presentations, and learn new vocabulary to describe their respective research. By the end of the six sessions they should not only be able to explain about current events in Japan, but also know more about other students'research goals.