Listen to a story written, performed and produced by Éliás Zoltán, a student at the University of Pécs, Hungary. Music composed by the author.

Last week I went to a conference in Nitra, Slovakia. One colleague I met there is Miroslav Kršňák. Listen to the first part of what we plan to be a conversation that will span two episodes.

Adán Reyes talks about his work as a chemist at the National Autonomous University of México, that special tool, the glovebox, and those amazing volcanoes, Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl.

Music credit: from the Mahahual Music podcast.

Please note that the first 20 episodes are available from me directly from now on as I had to delete them from Podomatic to make space for the new episodes. Send me email at jozsefhor@gmail.com if you need some of those episodes.

Two students, Barna and Tibi, managers at the Power Plant in Pécs, discussed views about ebooks in a recent class with me. A segment from that session.

Evi is an information assistant, available on iPhones and Android phones. I got the app a few days ago and tested what it can do. It? She? You decide.

Six stories in this episode: five by high-school students who were among the visitors on our open day at the University of Pécs today, and one by Fülöp Eper Flóra, a second-year English major. The high-school authors: László Gábor, Decsi Liliána, Vörös László, Babos Tamás and Ferenczi Ágota.

The last episode in 2011 features Anthony Krese, a.k.a. American Anthony, a teacher in Japan. Snippets from our Skype chat.

Anthony's website: www.americananthony.com

Seventy episodes already!

Listen to a chat with language educator and PhD student Thékes István, also known as Jerry Thékes.

Technical background info: episode recorded on the iPhone 4, partly mixed and edited with the GarageBand app, also on the iPhone. Look for more tweaks and programming innovations as a result of this app in the future.

Theme music by Kartali László. Acoustic guitar riffs by Horváth József

Part 2 of the interview with Katharine Whitcomb.

Kathy's website: http://www.katharinewhitcomb.com

This episode was first released a week ago but was then mysteriously gone for a day. Hope this time it will be okay.

Katharine Whitcomb is associate professor at Central Washington University. Currently she is guest professor at the University of Pécs. A poet and collaborative artist, she is also a great person to listen to. This episode is the first of a two-part series featuring her ideas and poetry.

Her website: http://www.katharinewhitcomb.com

Music credit: "Gone In" by Everyday Jones

Theme music composed and played by Kartali László

Fülöp Eper Flóra about her upcoming work experience in a Texas summer camp. Music credit: Blake Shelton's "Nobody But Me."

Hana Humpolíková is a student from Ostrava, the Czech Republic, currently on an Erasmus scholarship at the University of Pécs. The other day, we got together in my office.

Rudolf Anna came back from Madrid to Pécs for a short visit last week. After a hot chocolate and coffee, we went to Széchenyi square to record an interview.

You can listen to a sound story -- and not only that. You can write it, too! Send entries to jozsefhor@gmail.com.

Katarina Vesela, a colleague from Slovakia, speaks about her recently published book, Academic Writing, among others.

Horváth Bálint, Fekecs Adrienn and Szilas Péter, three good friends from the University of Pécs, are studying at A Coruna, Spain this semester. Last week they came to chat with me. This episode: soundbites fom our chat.

Please note that due to bandwidth limitations, some of my podcast episodes may not be available at the beginning of November. If you hear a Podomatic rep saying that my monthly bandwidth has expired, don't abandon Take Off: on November 4, my counter will be reset and all the episodes will be back on the air.

Second-year MA student Kovács Gabi tells us about her blog at http://kovgab.wordpress.com

First we talked, and then we danced -- at the farewell party at Seggau Castle, Austria. Find out about Sonia Valdiviezo's novel-in-progress.

I met Jonathan at this year's Graz University Summer School. Snippets from an interview we recorded on the last day.

My Croatian colleagues, Lovorka Zergollern-Miletic and Vladimir Legac, and I went to have beer in Pécs yesterday. Guess who turned on his iPhone.

Episode track: "Two Lessons to Learn" by Thalassa. More Thalassa music at http://www.ilike.com

An article by Bryan Nelson about the only animal known to be immortal, the turritopsis nutricula. See text at http://bit.ly/93JXXO

Episode track: "Mystique" by Marcin Borowski. Browse more Borowski music at http://www.ilike.com

Graduating student Szántó Gábor shares ideas about the subject of his MA thesis, Wikipedia.

Episode celebrates 55th milestone with a classic grotesque article from The Onion.

Theme music by Kartali Lászó

First episode of 2010 features a part of Nancy Franklin's New Yorker article about the Vancouver Olympics.

Theme music by Kartali László

Second-year student and two-time Blog Oscar Award winner Szvath Dóra narrates a passage from her short story, "Passengers." The full story is on her blog: http://senator888.blogspot.com

Theme music by Kartali László

An excerpt of a feature from the October 19, 2009 issue of The New Yorker.

Theme music by Kartali Lacek. Episode track: "Lions," by The Features.

"I’m not saying that it’s alright to be nervous all the time, but helping stressed-out people is always better than scolding them." This idea and more in Alexander's essay.

Theme tune by Kartali László. Music credit: Robyn Hitchcock and The Venus

Kartali Laci is the composer and musician of the new theme tune. Tune in to listen to that and to seven people from the first 49 episodes: Dani, Bernadett, Gergő, Steve, Lovorka, Anna, and Scott.

After this episode was published, Take Off really took off: it moved to 491st place overall. That's not bad with over 30,000 other podcasts trailing behind on Podomatic!

Thanks for listening!

Józsa Bernadett and Hudák Attila talk about two podcasts: Take Off and Tokyo Calling, the latter by my favorite podcaster, Scott Lockmann. Music credit: "Melt Down the Knives" by Sin Fang Bous.

Fulbright Professor Carol MacCurdy and I went to Paulus last week, and I asked her to talk about life and literature in the US. Snippets from the chat.

Excerpt from a story by Steven Millhauser.

Vasas Katalin's debut as a blog writer, plus Tomázy Dávid's and Ömböli Krisztián's stories.

On Wednesday, Rudolf Anna and I gave a talk to high-school students. In the episode: sound bites from the event.

Listen to an article by Sasha Frere-Jones published in The New Yorker on January 12.

First-year student Tomázy Dávid talks about a story he will start writing soon.

The last pages from Proulx's highly acclaimed novella.

Seven students from my Oral Presentation Skills course share opinions and plans: Balázs, Anita, Kitti, Kinga, Anna, Judit, and Krisztián.

First, some thoughts about meeting would-be freshmen last Saturday, and then a song by Cargo Cult. Photo: Zsélyi Eszter after our talk, with part of Kungl Zsófi's blog showing in the background.

A nameday, an exhibition, a trip and a song: four students share their experiences on their blogs. Music credit: Michael Halaas, http://www.ilike.com

Three blogs, three stories, three students: Szvath Dóra, Balázs Éva and Gazdóf Lilla. Music credit: a song by Ellen Says No, a free MP3 download from http://www.ilike.com/artist/Ellen+Says+No

Kartali László, third-year student of Pécs, jazz musician, vocabulary master, and composer of the Take Off theme music, calls Amsterdam home this semester that he spends in Holland on an Erasmus scholarship. In this episode, we share a part of our Skype chat last weekend. Photo credit: Lacek's photo of the view form his apartment in downtown Amsterdam.

The site is up and running again! Enjoy these podcasts!

Listen to the first posts of Andrea, Dóra, Zsófi, Kornél, and Krisztián. I am planning more episodes featuring students' blogs this semester. If you would like to read these and other blog posts, go to http://take-o-f-f.blogspot.com and look for the list.

The last summer episode this year!

In just a little more than a day, I'll be there with the crowd watching and listening to REM at the Sziget, Budapest, Hungary. I hope to be back from that concert with a special REM Live edition of the podcast. We'll see. What's sure is that the most recent episode features "Find the River."
#rembudapest

I'll post the next episode in early August, after I come home from the Kapolcs Magic Days festivities. Meantime, you can listen to one of my favorite student stories, which also appears in my collection, the JPU Corpus.

That's right: this week, the lyrics comes from that 60s musical, Hair. Enjoy!

How about shifting into sixth gear with this fantastic track from REM's latest album? Plus listen to my rendition of the lyrics. Enjoy! Also, check out Take Off after the REM concert on the Sziget on August 16. I will be there and share with you some of the highlights of the show!

#rembudapest

The first summer episode! Enjoy your vacation and this story, the lyrics of Coldplay's Viva La Vida.

Konkoly Kriszta, Horváth Bálint, and Szilas Péter, three English majors at the University of Pécs, talk about an exam and their summer plans.

Lovorka Zergollern - Miletic, a colleague from the University of Zagreb, and I gave a talk on coherence and originality in student writing at a Pécs conference last week. After the presentation, we went to have a glass of wine downtown -- together with a team of participants. It was there that I made this recording.

The song is by The Agape Rose. Find more great music by them and other bands at www.ilike.com.

Kosóczki Kata, Buda Réka and Fodor Balázs, three students from my Oral Presentation Skills II course, are talking about Forster's novel, A Passage to India, and another passage.

The song is "Sol naciente" by Cargo Cult. Go to http://www.ilike.com to listen to songs by them or other GarageBand musicians.

In the past three years, I have met Steve four times: at the annual Budapest Folk Dance Festivals. This past weekend I asked him to tell Take Off a little bit about his interest in things Hungarian and Transylvanian.

Here's the cover photo of his album Ten Years in Transylvania:

If you would like to see Steve's other photos, too, visit his site at

http://www.spinderartphoto.com/

A scene from the movie starring Sean Connery and Kevin Costner, plus a conversation with Rácz Krisztián.

The song is by the Mitchell Blues Band -- a free MP3 file from www.iLike.com

In this episode I read a passage about the prehistoric statues on Easter Island. Read the rest of the chapter and other sections in Routledge's book on Google Books: http://books.google.com/books?id=36yi7JgoBY8C&rview=1

Listen to Rudolf Anna's story from her blog at http://anchuk.blogspot.com

The singer featured in the episode is Hannah Ild.

A talented writer, Gergo is a fourth-year student at the University of Pecs.

This episode features Lugossy Reka and her stories.

Another rerun of a segment from a Joe and Co. episode from last year, featuring Marianne's ideas about learning vocabulary.

The music for this episode is by Everyday Jones, What I'm Missing. Used under the Creative Commons license. You can hear more Everyday Jones songs at http://www.podsafeaudio.com.