Pearls of Wisdom, Gems of Knowledge, and other things I find strange about Cambridge, England

I'll just give you a taste...many more to follow, I'm sure

• Tit Hall is not a derogatory term; it really is the nickname of my college

• Rivalry between Trinity Hall (yeah!!!!!) and Trinity College (boo!) is encouraged…
  You see, Trinity Hall was founded in 1350; Trinity not till 1546. Trinity (College) was founded by Henry VIII, who evidently realized he might need to traing some new priests since he was kicking out the Catholic Church and so set up Trinity College (that's the short version).
  
  Now, at this time, colleges were called colleges as they were formed, but Trinity Hall, being far more ancient was still being called a Hall (the oldest of the oldest were called houses, ie Peterhouse). Anyway, Henry’s great idea of calling it Trinity College essentially means that Trinity Hall can never be known as college (don’t even try saying Trinity Hall College, we might have to challenge you to a duel!). So, the hard feelings stem from their stealing our name.
  
  Anyway, the story goes that one night not too long ago (ie in the last century), the JCR (that’s the undergrads – both the people and their common room) were being so noisy that the porters at Trinity College, which is next door to Trinity Hall, called up the porters at Trinity Hall (known for being wonderfully friendly and helpful people) and complained about the noise. And our porter answered, “Well, you shouldn’t have built so close!”

• Rivalry between Trinity Hall and Caius (pronounced Keys) is also encouraged…but I’ll save that story for another time

• Change is bad – which is why books should be checked out in the same way that they have been for 500 years. No exceptions.

• The probability of finding a book in one of the 6 libraries that you’re registered to use is inversely proportional to how badly you need it

• When the emergency alarm goes off in the UL (University Library), you should NOT evacuate. Instead, lounge around looking like this happens all the time and wait for the polite loudspeaker voice to tell you whether or not the library is burning down and/or if you need to run for your life.

• English is a foreign language.

Right, well, soon begins the weekend, which unfortunately does not mean punting for me but rather learning all about Bolivia's struggling democratization and Argentina's radical film directors of the 60s. Other exciting things too, but I don't want to jinx myself so I'll post all about my upcoming field hockey game (!!!) later.