From throwing fish in Tübingen to taking exams in Latin at Padua, the world’s oldest universities have some genuinely bizarre traditions. Here are 12 worth knowing before you arrive.

1. Padua (Italy): PhD students wear laurel wreaths and get publicly roasted by friends
2. Tübingen (Germany): Students throw fish into the river when graduating
3. Coimbra (Portugal): Students wear black cloaks and burn ribbons in the “Queima das Fitas”
4. Trinity College Dublin: Students must walk under the campanile only after graduating, or face bad luck
5. Oxford: Sub fusc required for exams — full Victorian formalwear
6. Cambridge: Mathematical bridge designed by Newton without nails (mythical)
7. Yale: Skull and Bones secret society initiations
8. Harvard: Primal Scream — students run naked through Harvard Yard before finals
9. Lund (Sweden): Mössa hat-tossing on Walpurgis Night
10. Heidelberg: Student prison (“Studentenkarzer”) with historic graffiti
11. Bologna: Touch the foot of Saint Peter for exam luck
12. St Andrews (Scotland): Pier Walk every Sunday after church