Oxford’s long history means it has many quirks. For example, before standardized time zones, the city ran on “Oxford time”, which was five minutes behind London time. Even though modern time zones have long been established and Oxford’s clocks are set to match London’s, Oxford still holds on to its history. While official timetables say lectures begin on the hour, lecturers will always start at precisely five minutes past. Here are a few more unique things about Oxford culture I find intriguing.

1. Library culture. Racing for a spot in the prettier libraries is quite common (and not just at the end of the semester, like at Mizzou). You have to arrive early, otherwise you might not get a seat on some days, and you certainly won’t get a good seat. However, no library opens before 9 a.m., and there’s basically no such thing as “open 24 hours” in Europe, so you don’t have to get up too early. Libraries are also entirely silent, unlike at most U.S. universities. Another difference is, you regularly see students read and check out the books in the libraries because they’re doing research for their essays. The Bodleian libraries system has a copy of every book published in the U.K., and I’ve heard that some community members fight hard for a Bodleian reader card. Still, the large collection also means there are probably many sad, unused books in storage somewhere.

2. Sports. The culture around sports (or, “sport,” as they would say in the U.K.) also feels very different than in the U.S. Although athletics at Oxford are pretty elite, it seems (from an outsider’s perspective) that they are more of an addition to students’ lives than the whole of their lives. There’s little publicity around Oxford sports, and the financing system is totally different than in the U.S., so there isn’t money for huge stadiums and facilities. Students seem to do sports for enjoyment, and student athletes don’t become media stars. Even though they do like rugby and rowing, Oxford puts academics first. It’s a refreshing perspective.

Even though Oxford has a culture all its own, I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the two universities. Some of them were uncanny, some just made me laugh.

1. The uniform. At Mizzou, you could wear Mizzou gear almost every day and fit right in. While Oxford students basically never wear brightly colored “Oxford University” hoodies (too American, probably), they do frequently wear college merch, or “stash.” The favorite item is a black puffer coat with the student’s Oxford college’s crest embroidered on the left chest and their initials on the right. It looks exactly like British school uniforms, so perhaps it makes them comfortable, because students will wear them even when it’s a little too warm for a coat. Everyone likes to fit in, I suppose.

2. The students don’t pay attention in lecture. There are technically no consequences if you don’t go to lectures at Oxford. There’s no attendance taken, lectures are live-streamed and recorded, and there are usually very comprehensive notes available ahead of time for the whole course. If there’s not, you can easily access last year’s notes which are likely to be very similar. So why there are still a few people who come to lectures only to plan trips to London, scroll through their email or watch baseball on their phone (yes, someone next to me actually did this), I will never understand.

3. It’s a college town. Oxford is a similar size to Columbia, has a similarly-sized student population, and is also full of academic buildings. There are students everywhere during term and a mass exodus when every term finishes. Needless to say, despite the abundance of Gothic architecture and the thousand years of history, it still felt weirdly like the Missouri college town I’ve grown accustomed to.

4. Nightlife. Plenty of Oxford students love to go out in the evenings just like many Mizzou students. The drinking culture is a bit different (from my sober outsider’s perspective) since basically all university students are of drinking age. For example, there are official student-organized outings and “entz”, which are parties in the college bar. But walking around Oxford at night is not that different from walking around downtown Columbia at night, except that for some odd reason, Wednesday replaces Thursday as a popular going-out night. Don’t ask me the logic behind that.

5. Oxford vs. Cambridge, MU vs. KU. Mizzou is not the only university with a long-standing, slightly ridiculous, widespread athletic rivalry. Oxford students seem to feel towards Cambridge exactly as Mizzou students feel towards KU. In Oxford, sometimes Cambridge is even referred to as “the other place.” Although you would think that two top-tier universities with practically equal reputations for academic excellence could rise above such petty squabbles, Oxford students still poke fun at anyone who went to Cambridge. It’s usually in good humor, but I’ve heard the desire to beat Cambridge at rowing can lead to something more intense than just friendly competition.