Banfi Days in Davis

The University of California-Davis is an amazing place. It is a research university, part of the University of California network, and has been called one of the "public-ivies" in reference to the Ivy League. Many of the students here are first generation college and the range of ethnicities and origins is simply fascinating. I haven't yet counted, but in one of the graduate seminars I am attending there must be over a dozen languages spoken by the less than 15 students attending. Among its faculty there are members of all the academics of Sciences, Arts and Humanities; recipients of awards of all kinds, including the Nobel prize and many of their schools and programmes have been ranked first in the world, for those interested in what those rankings may mean! The geographical setting of the campus is no less impressive. It is a clearly demarcated terrain (you can tell when you enter from the 'outside world', i.e. the town that has grown around it) that seem...