Looking to Adopt A Foreign Tongue

Along with the language, White is studying Persian literature and a class on modern Iran, in which students -- some of Persian heritage, some not -- ask lots of questions.

Whenever other students find out she's studying Persian, White said, she ends up in a long conversation about it. "Some people are a little weirded out by it," she said, "but most people are pretty accepting."

Others said they know plenty of people who are angry with the leadership of Iran but think it's important to learn more about the society.

Next year, White hopes to move into the language house, an apartment on campus that includes a close-knit group of students who speak Persian at home.

In a recent class, students read aloud poems by an Iranian writer of the 1950s and '60s. "One can draw back the drapes/with wrinkled fingers and watch/rain falling heavy in the alley . . ."

"Is that a life of one's own?" professor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak asked, as the class talked about women's roles in Iran.

Afterward, White said, "Even when it's spoken, it sounds poetic, it sounds beautiful."

She's now rethinking her career plans. "I'm fascinated with Persian culture and Persian language. I don't ever want to stop studying it."