University of Cambridge

On Wednesday Pat spent the day exploring Cambridge. I knew very little about this place and was really confused of how Pat could spend an entire day there. I asked him if Cambridge was a just a college or was it a town with a college in it. He didn't know how to answer the question. So I asked "So did you just spend the day on the campus of Cambridge or did you explore the town it was in as well." He also did not know how to answer my question.

I guess I just need to visit to figure out how you could spend an entire day at a University (I am so un-traveled!).

So, since I didn't know very much about this place I decided to find more out. Below are some pictures of his day and some random facts!


The University of Cambridge is the second oldest university in England and the fourth oldest in the world. Academically, Cambridge has been ranked one of the world's top five universities.



University of Cambridge origins can be traced to a crime committed in 1209.

Two Oxford scholars were convicted of the murder or manslaughter of a woman and were hanged by the town authorities with the assent of King John. In protest at the hanging, the University of Oxford went into voluntary suspension, and scholars migrated to a number of other locations, including the pre-existing school at Cambridge. These exile Oxford scholars started Cambridge’s life as a university in 1209.

As an institution with such a long history, the University has developed a large number of myths and legends. A discontinued tradition is that of the wooden spoon, the ‘prize’ awarded to the student with the lowest passing grade in the final examinations of the Mathematical Tripos.

If I went there I would have SO many spoons! On second thought, I would not have any spoons because that is assuming I actually passed the final exam!