Comments | necaris: town of the s

necaris

town of the s

Jun 22, 2009 22:20

I'd never been to Cambridge before today. I know it's a pretty major failing for a long-distance foreigner like myself to have spent so much time in the UK and never been to such a famously pretty university town, but I've never quite gotten around to it. Until today ( Read more... )

Comments 19

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tyr_arcana June 22 2009, 22:44:53 UTC

Of course it's about winning and losing! Loyalty to the clan, the tribe, the pack.

(just don't take it tooooo seriously, never take anything in life too seriously and you'll be ok)

necaris June 24 2009, 09:11:37 UTC

Heh, just some idle ramblings -- not too serious, don't worry!

necaris June 22 2009, 23:58:50 UTC

I'd be fine with Oxford offering some things and Cambridge others, but I've been having a little trouble thinking of what Oxford has to offer by comparison. Except for Temple Cowley, which I'm not really going to count as a plus.

aidansean June 23 2009, 06:04:53 UTC

I've only been to Cambridge once and enjoyed it lots. But from what I've heard it's much easier to get bored in Cambridge than it is in Oxford, especially out of term. There's just not much going on there outside of the university!

Yays for an excuse to use the tedium icon!

necaris June 24 2009, 09:12:04 UTC

Yay for tedium!

andustar June 23 2009, 07:05:09 UTC

No Intrusion and no G&Ds. I don't mean none of those specific things, I mean no approximate equivalents at all. Also even worse supermarkets (no, really).

Um, and they don't wear subfusc or carnations for exams?

It is prettier though, IMO. And their botanical gardens pwn ours.

andustar June 23 2009, 07:06:17 UTC

And their Christian soc is aggressive and bothersome.

necaris June 23 2009, 09:46:08 UTC

It is prettier though, IMO. And their botanical gardens pwn ours.
Yeah, that's most of what was bothering me. Although having thought about it, there's lots of lovely little winding lanes filled with shops in Cam where, in Ox, we'd have crammed another college in there and all the pretty is hidden away.

Um, and they don't wear subfusc or carnations for exams?
I was really surprised -- I popped into Ede & Ravenscroft hoping to see what a Tab gown looked like, and they told me they didn't have them because no one uses one! Although apparently the carnation business is pretty new, so I dunno.

caravela June 23 2009, 10:37:52 UTC

Cambridge is beautiful - I'd say prettier than Oxford because of the way the river goes along the backs, and the perfect medieval centre. And there are more grand and impressive colleges. What you don't get is the contrast between a big bustling town and then the sudden quietness when you go inside a quad which makes Oxford colleges feel like a secret world. Or the honey-coloured Oxford stone. Or the cute little Turl street colleges (Cambridge colleges are a lot bigger). But I'd probably recommend it as a tourist experience over Oxford and it is gorgeous to visit ( ... )

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necaris June 24 2009, 09:43:53 UTC

Cambridge was even more able to dominate local affairs than Oxford was
Ooh, that does make sense -- I was reminded of all of this because they've got banners up all over the place right now what with their turning 800.

necaris June 24 2009, 09:31:29 UTC

I know it quite well and have spent a fair amount of time there
Awesome, I was hoping you'd comment!

I'd say prettier than Oxford
I think you're right, although I rather like smaller colleges so I'm willing to give Oxford +1 for the intimacy :-)

But if you're not an undergrad, it's basically a village with very little to do
Ouch! It did make me go 'Huh' when I looked it up on Wikipedia and discovered that it's only about 2/3 the size of Oxford..

andy_godfrey June 23 2009, 10:44:10 UTC

I think Oxford is probably a better place to actually live in, being much bigger and having more to offer, but I've always thought it was fairly clear that Cambridge was prettier, especially given that there are lots of quite ugly parts of Oxford (how much concrete did you see in Cambridge?). I get the impression that English cities tend to be uglier the bigger they are - unlike in, say, a certain teutonic nation not so far away ...

All this having been said, I've never actually been to Cambridge.

necaris June 24 2009, 09:52:41 UTC

lots of quite ugly parts of Oxford (how much concrete did you see in Cambridge?)
Not so much in the centre, and although I did see a fair number of 60s/70s-style accomodation and departmental eyesores the ones I noticed were slightly more tasteful, brick rather than concrete, and less jarring.

That having been said, there's ugliness in both places if you look!