Cambridge
A week ago I went to visit Oxford, yesterday I went to visit the rival school of Cambridge. I think I like Cambridge better than Oxford. Oxford felt very cramped and tight, but Cambridge has a good blend of modern and medieval architecture. It feels more like a college town than Oxford, which felt stuffy. We left early on the train, went punting on the river, learned how to punt, took a walking tour, and had afternoon tea. We also indulged in Chelsea buns (sticky buns) from a place called Fitzbillies. They have been open for over a hundred years and their Chelsea buns are so good!
Oxford and Cambridge don't have a specific campus, they each are made up of different colleges. Prospective students will apply to one or more of the colleges, and they are a member of whatever college they get accepted into. It used to be that each college had a speciality, but nowadays most of them teach many areas. Cambridge has quite the reputation, and despite the fact that Oxford is older, Cambridge has ranked better academically for numerous years.
The best thing to do in Cambridge is Punting. You can either rent one and punt yourself around, or get a guide. Renting a self-hire boat is more expensive because punting is a lot harder than it looks. Most of the companies charge by the hour because it takes so long for newbies to get to the end of the route and back. Also, with a guide, you get to relax and not worry about potentially falling in but you also get to learn a lot of the secrets around Cambridge. For example, there are many bridges that connect the two shores of the river Cam, the two most famous are the bridge of sighs and the mathematical bridge. It has been rumoured that the mathematical bridge was built by Isaac Newton (who studied there), and built it so it didn't have any nuts or bolts. It's said some students took it apart to see how Newton did it, only to get confused and they couldn't figure it out and had to reconstruct it using nuts and bolts. This isn't true! The bridge always had nuts and bolts, and it was also built 20 years after Newton died.
Cambridge definitely turned out to be one of my favourite places yet.
Oxford and Cambridge don't have a specific campus, they each are made up of different colleges. Prospective students will apply to one or more of the colleges, and they are a member of whatever college they get accepted into. It used to be that each college had a speciality, but nowadays most of them teach many areas. Cambridge has quite the reputation, and despite the fact that Oxford is older, Cambridge has ranked better academically for numerous years.
The best thing to do in Cambridge is Punting. You can either rent one and punt yourself around, or get a guide. Renting a self-hire boat is more expensive because punting is a lot harder than it looks. Most of the companies charge by the hour because it takes so long for newbies to get to the end of the route and back. Also, with a guide, you get to relax and not worry about potentially falling in but you also get to learn a lot of the secrets around Cambridge. For example, there are many bridges that connect the two shores of the river Cam, the two most famous are the bridge of sighs and the mathematical bridge. It has been rumoured that the mathematical bridge was built by Isaac Newton (who studied there), and built it so it didn't have any nuts or bolts. It's said some students took it apart to see how Newton did it, only to get confused and they couldn't figure it out and had to reconstruct it using nuts and bolts. This isn't true! The bridge always had nuts and bolts, and it was also built 20 years after Newton died.
Cambridge definitely turned out to be one of my favourite places yet.
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