Philip Huffman on the University of California, Davis

My name is Phillip Huffman and I am a junior at University California, Davis. The admissions process was fairly simply for me as a California resident. You can apply to all of the UC schools by completing one form and just checking off which schools you want to send your application to. My first choice was Stanford for both educational and athletic reasons. Unfortunately it did not work out, but I am enjoying Davis more than I ever thought I would. I do not think I could imagine myself enjoying school any more than I am right now. I play on the Mens' Golf team at Davis and have been very busy traveling and playing tournaments around the country the last two years as well as working on my major which is International Relations. As an International Relations major at Davis you are required to take a diverse set of courses, most of which are not titled as “International Relations.” Political Science, Economics, Sociology, History, Cultural Studies, Language, and even others depending on the “Track” and “Focus” you choose are the general classes you will take as an International Relations major.

Currently, I am studying abroad in Rome, Italy and have been overwhelmed by the entire experience thus far, even though I am only halfway through. I find myself torn as to whether or not I want to return or stay. Although I know that the obligations of home will certainly bring me back to America, I plan on returning to Europe and hopefully Italy to continue my studies.

I arrived in Rome on August 20th and was welcomed by humidity and tourists for the first three weeks. As the last two months have passed the weather has been nothing short of immaculate and the tourists have gradually regressed to lower numbers.

I currently live a stones throw away from the Vatican Museums, which I have been to twice now, in the Prati neighborhood. Lets just say that there is something for everyone here in Rome. I am not an art student by any means, but I have grown to appreciate art more than ever before just by being entirely surrounded by the open-air museum that is called Rome. I am always trying to talk to as many Italians as possible in my attempt to become fluent in a second language and am also teaching an English class at La Sapienza University in Rome. On top of that I am taking a total of 25 units for the semester, so suffice to say I am busy all of the time and still traveling amongst it all. Overall I highly recommend studying abroad to every kind of student. I have met neuroscience, biology, and physics majors here in Rome who are taking a “break” from their respective majors and are finally having a little fun as well.

If there was one mistake I made before going into college that would have really been beneficial to me I would say that I needed to read and discuss higher levels of books with other students and extend my vocabulary and conversational skills. Since college I have progressively read more and more material of various topics and extended my, lets call it, “mental capacity.”

Philip is a Get Smarter Prep alumnus and is part of the UC Davis Class of 2010