Hey I’m really sorry nothing has gone up since Friday, had a mad weekend and everything has got a bit hectic this week, but don’t worry, everything that needs to go up will be here by the end of Wednesday, so that will include all the pictures and interviews and everything that happened over the weekend.
Sorry for the delay.
Em. x
Hey guys, just a quick treat for you now as I’ve had a little help in getting reviews for things I didn’t attend myself last Thursday evening and Monday of this week.
Nick Townsend is a 2nd year BA Hons Journalism student and here are his reviews for Wine Tasting and Speed Dating.
“We want the finest wines available to humanity” demands Richard E. Grant’s title character in the student cult classic, ‘Withnail & I’.
For the participants of the wine tasting class though, they had to make do with the finest wines available to Co-Ops limited range of discount bottles. Maybe not humanity, but humane in the sense that the bottles of red and white were all Fair Trade.
I reasoned with the ‘Give It A Go’ volunteers that my lack of ID shouldn’t forbid me from participating (as I am and look 23!), by arguing the case ‘real wine tasters don’t swallow.’
As participants sat down, moderator and wine connoisseur Helen Gittins spoke of much wine varies throughout the world and how subtle the differences can be and how the qualities of the samples are judged and determined are set by parameters.
Using standards such as smell, taste, transparency and fluid density (referred to as leg) students were encouraged to guess the hidden ingredients inside each brand with a free bottle offered to those with the correct answer.
The samples of wine given ranged from the vineyards of South Africa, Argentina and France. By the end of the evening participants ranging from the non-regular wine drinkers to the fully fledged oenophile, were able to appreciate the process of wine production with a deeper understanding of its geographical origin…or maybe they’d just found out how much they could drink for their £2.50 admission!
The speed dating had the biggest turnout for a paid event on ‘Give It A Go’ with nearly a hundred participants in total.
The event invited a large spectrum of personalities to meet, befriend and woo members of the opposite sex within 3 minutes. This is the true acid test of the dating game. Attempting to sell yourself (personality wise that is!) in 180 seconds proved difficult for some but effortless for others.
Myself a participant – I began to tire of the same introduction patter of “Where are you from?” and “What are you studying”. To avoid this déjà vu of Freshers’ Week, I began to throw other questions within my intro such as, “What’s your favourite dirty joke?” or “Is the fact we’re both here an act of desperation or proof we want to meet other outgoing people?”
There was an American girl there who seemed more relaxed about the event than all the other participants, who I’m sure didn’t feel like she was just ‘giving it a go’ as her culture practically invented the format of speed dating.
Whilst the girls complained there were too many frogs and not enough princes (many also suspiciously claiming they were there just to offer support to a friend) the only objection from the boys was that the room was too dimly lit making the event seem overly romanticised. I even overheard one boy say during a break, “I won’t find my future wife here, but there’s plenty of totty!”
And who says romance isn’t dead?!
Now if any of you are currently thinking, “I’d like to have my review up on there” then send it into pfeatures@uclan.ac.uk and I’ll get it up on here too.
I’ll be posting up yesterday and today’s events in about half an hour, but for now, thanks to Nick and I’ll be back soon.
Em. x
Hey, hope you’re all ok and had a great weekend. Sorry this post has been a bit longer in coming than I had hoped, time seems to be escaping me at the moment.
I’ve heard that the weekend’s various events were successful and if you went to anything please write a review/comment, no matter how big or small, it will go up here with any pictures you might have.
So, back to this week. Well, I’m feeling revitalised and ready for week two and it should have started off with a bang this morning as the Ultimate Frisbee event was held, but…I missed it! Unfortunately, there was a change in times and I arrived just after it had finished so I didn’t get any pics, but I did grab an interview with the lads who hosted it (Andrew Leat, Duncan Wolverson, Jerry Crotton, Kyle Shephard) and this will be up later on.
I think that it wasn’t as much of a success as they had hoped because timetable clashes and a change of time meant that only one person turned up, but they are hopeful that if they do it again they will be given a better slot and as you will hear in the interview, they hope to turn create a club and will be advertising it on Facebook, so keep an ear out if you are interested.
Next on my list of events was Art Attack, which took place in the SU. To be honest, you couldn’t really miss it as Fern Bennett, Chloe Duckett and Rachael Patan (all 1st year Journalism students) had created a giant clown face on the floor, which looked terrific if you looked down from the Atrium.
It’s still there now, so take a look if you’re heading through and if you don’t catch it before it goes, some pics and an interview with the girls who made it will be going up tomorrow.
Next, I headed off to the Digital Photography masterclass being hosted by the SU’s Media Officer, Andy Squire. Although there were a few issues with rooms and some technology problems, we were soon off in small groups heading around the university with one task – trying to take photographs of objects that look like letters of the alphabet.
So for instance, we had a spiral staircase that resembled an ‘s’. It was a really fun task and I’m pleased to say the group I was in managed to find suitable objects that covered every letter!
But, there was a reason behind us doing all this. Andy wanted us to look at objects in a different way and it worked because I wasn’t just looking a chair, I was looking at something that resembled a ‘c’ or a ‘h’.
Sadly, the Stage Make-Up workshop was cancelled so I have nothing more to report for Monday.
A quick update on today was the French Language workshop I attended, but I’m going to fill you in on that one tomorrow, along with all the other fantastic things I have on my list, including Indian Head Massage and Belly Dancing!
Also, I’ll be uploading photos and interviews tomorrow so keep an eye out.
But for now I’ll say goodbye.
Night. x
Right then, well I hope you’ve enjoyed the coverage of GIAG’s first week, I’ve certainly enjoyed covering it.
Unfortunately, I won’t be specifically covering anything this weekend because I really need to catch up with uni work and sort out my pages for Pluto, but never fear, here is a quick guide to the weekend’s events!
This morning saw a coach load of excited UCLan students going off for the weekend to take part in the Bear Grylls Survival Weekend. The group are travelling to the Llyen Peninsula in North Wales where they will be learning how to look after themselves in the wild, setting up shelters, finding food and cooking for themselves.
The menu is set to include mackerel, spider crabs and possibly even rabbit, so lessons in catching, killing and cooking your food will be included!
The other trip that left UCLan this morning was on its way to Chester Zoo! I have to admit I love that place, it’s not far from where I live and it is the UK’s number one zoo.
They have over 7000 animals and 400 different species, so it’s no wonder more than a million people visit every year. They also do a lot of conservation work and house some of the most endangered species we have on the planet.
For those that are visiting today or have done in the past, you will know what a fantastic place it is and a great day out that you will remember for a very long time and for those that have never been, don’t worry that you missed the trip this time, it isn’t far away from Preston (about an hour in the car) and the prices aren’t that bad either (£13.50 with a valid NUS card).
Chester Zoo is also in need of people to make donations so they can continue their great work. Take a look at the website: http://www.chesterzoo.org.
And for those of you who have stayed in Preston this weekend, don’t miss out on the two great events taking place at the uni today.
In about five minutes the Rounders Tournament, BBQ and Football is due to kick off at Source so get on down there and Give It A Go and tonight sees the return of the Roller Disco at 53 Degrees!
This was a huge success last time when it involved a trip to the roller disco place in Manchester, but due to the massive number of people who wanted to go, it has since been brought to 53 and this year sees its return as part of Fresher’s Week and GIAG 08.
Falling over, leg warmers, bad skating and neon skirts are a must at this 80s cult night and I hope those of you who go don’t have too many bruises in the morning.
And if you do take part in any of these events, drop me a line at pfeatures@uclan.ac.uk and I’ll pop your pics, reviews, comments and interviews up on the blog!
That’s all for now, but I’ll be back later this evening with all the details about tomorrow’s events!
Take care,
Em. x
Hey guys here’s all the interviews I’ve gathered from the first five days. They are linked through to YouTube, so enjoy!
Em. x
Jonathan Andrews talks about the Abseil – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Tsm7nuw92GM
Summer Mouallem talks about the Arabic master class – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tU_rhAnOPm4
John Turner talks about the Chinese language master class – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FYU_oR1Inbc
Hayley Stubbs talks about the Cocktail class – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xZHqv9g9wno
Wojciech Falenta (Chek) from Mojito in the city centre talks about the Cocktail class – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l4f8HJgDKM4
Nicola Rolph talks about this year’s Give It A Go – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_iDq9lOwGvg
Daniel Haynes talks about the Pie Eating contest – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wRJEacTP7zA
Debbie Williams talks about the Publishing event – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A5aMBhJoR8c
John Turner talks about the Wii Boxing tournament – http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ73Gnj60yI
Hey, hope you’ve all got that Friday feeling and are looking forward to the weekend and the major events Give It A Go has planned!
But, first of all I better let you know what I’ve been up to today.
Well, earlier on I went to the ‘How To Get Yourself Published’ session. Our tutor for the event was Debbie Williams, who before taking up her current role in UCLan’s School of Journalism, Media and Communications, worked as a ‘Children’s Buyer’ for Waterstones.
Debbie’s job specialised in children’s books and she chose nearly every childrens book that Waterstones sold for ten years, that’s some responsibility I think you will agree!
But, back to the event! Today was really a brief introduction into how to go about writing any book, not just a children’s one.
To start of with the key is to do your research. There are many different trade papers, year-books and websites that can give you an up to date look at what publishers are looking for. For instance, there is currently way too many fantasy children’s book available due to the brilliant success of Harry Potter, so if you’re planning on writing one, I’d leave it a few years and go for a more niche market.
Following on from that Debbie advises that you write to the publishers asking what they would like to see more of and any advice they give you, from telling you how to lay out a manuscript and what themes they would like to see, through to the fact that they might only speak to agents and not directly to authors should all be taken very seriously. If a publisher has told you not to do something and you do exactly that, they won’t be very impressed and your name might be remembered in the future.
From there your book writing can taking any number of twists and turns. The publishers might want you to write a few chapters and synopsis, through to the entire story that turns into a series. The key is to keep ahead, have stuff prepared, do your best to sell the idea and be professional, but don’t forget to be thick skinned if they don’t like your ideas.
I have to say this event was very interesting. Although I’m not looking to write any sort of book at the moment, but it certainly gave me an insight into how I should go about it should I ever want to write one. It also seemed to be interesting for those taking part, as they walked out with plenty of notes.
After that I popped down to see how the Acts of Kindness board was coming along and the progress was steady but looking good.
Ideas ranged from cooking a meal for you friends, to sending a box of cough sweets to an ill friend, so for those of you that haven’t sent your cards back in yet, do it on Monday so the board can be filled up!
I think this is a really nice idea and it’s a really positive thing to have in the student community. The ideas that I’ve seen are great and I might do a few myself.
The final event for the event was the abseil down Harris Building. It commenced at 1.30pm this afternoon, but I can assure people that it was still going strong at gone 5pm this evening so I think it’s safe to say this event has proved pretty popular.
Due to the big numbers I didn’t take part this year, but I can assure you from last year (and you can read my entry from last year for yourself on this blog!) it really takes some guts to climb over that wall, even if those on the ground don’t think it’s that high up!
On that point I have to say it pretty funny watching the bemused students coming out of Foster Building who did that thing, you know when someone else is looking up so everyone copies just because they’re being nosy?! I think a few were a bit envious, but I heard quite a few say that it’s something they could never do!
Still it was good to see so many students taking part and enjoying themselves (or not as the screaming from some suggested!) because that’s what GIAG and being part of the SU is all about.
Now, before I go I just want to say thankyou and sadly, goodbye to Nicola Rolph, who is leaving her job in the Student Involvement and Development (I think that’s what it stands for anyway) centre in the SU.
Nicola has been behind GIAG since it first took place last February and it is thanks to her and Kelly Burdett, our Activities and Participation Officer that GIAG is what it is.
So thanks Nic, take care and good luck with your new job.
And that’s it for now.
I’ll pop all my pics, interviews from this week and let you know bout the weekend’s events in about an hour, but right now I need my tea!
Tata. x
This was a hard fought final...
...but at least cocktails were on offer afterwards!
Sorry these couple of pics aren't great quality......I'd left the batteries for my camera at home!
Now I’m really sorry I have no pics from Day Two, but if I can get my hands on some they will be going up.
The pies are lined up...
...and so are the competitors...
...and they're off!
The Hockey teams were cheering their mates on.
Sorry I don’t have a pic of the winning team with their prize or of the Clubs and Socs Fair, if I can get my hands on some they will be going up!
Hey guys, sorry I didn’t blog yesterday, had a quite a bit on as I’m sure most you did because the SU was buzzing all day!
On a bum note, Lacrosse was cancelled yesterday. I think there was a lack of interest and a lack of equipment, but not to fear because the Clubs and Socs Fair was packed!
I hope all of you turned up to see just how many clubs and socs UCLan has available and that most you joined at least one. I have to admit the cost to join the clubs this year put me off slightly, but they all seem to have so much planned that each and everyone will be worth it.
From what people have told me the event was busy all day, with a steady stream doing the rounds, which this year included the Atrium and upstairs in 53 Degrees.
It was nice to see how passionate (and sometimes scary) people are about their clubs and societies, like the Poker guys who tried to reassure me it’s not just about gambling and the scary little Jitsu man, you know who you are!
Also, I have to mention how Mountaineering seemed to be swaying people with their home-made cakes and buns, a tip for the other clubs and socs next year I think!!!
For those of you that did join up, I’m sure you will get a lot out of being part of a group or team. It’s a great way to get to know people and it’s one of those things that makes being at uni (and especially UCLan) the great experience that it is.
As for the rest of the day. Well, once the various clubs and socs had tidied all their stuff away, UCLan’s first ‘Back To You’ event was held in Source.
Now this is something pretty special and it will carry on after GIAG has finished. The reason being that you can earn points for your club or society by drinking!!! Great excuse to get drunk huh?! Well, I’m not going to advocate getting drunk so remember it’s all drinks, not just the alcoholic ones!!!
But, getting back to the point! Last night was the first night for the event and it will be happening every Monday and Wednesday from now on so don’t forget when you pop down to Source because the points equal money for your club/society.
During last night’s event, the UCLan Pie Eating Contest was also held. Competition was fierce and the Men’s and Women’s Hockey Teams were out in force, cheering on each other and shouting out the randomest chants!
Basically, teams were made up of five people and each person had to eat their pie before the next could start. The winning team were the first to eat their five pies.
The six teams competing were; Chipmunks, Don’t Be Shy Show Us Your Pie, Spanky and His Fat Friends, Blazzin, Why Cry When You Can Have Pie and the Pieneers.
Antics during the two heats included pies throwing, people pretending to eat their pies, but then hiding them in a napkin and the SU President, Gavin Jones breaking his up into his glass of water and then downing it (urgh!).
The heats were close and surprisingly slow (I think the pies, or pasties as they turned out to be, were a little bit more of a challenge than everyone had expected), but before the competitors had the chance to feel a bit peckish again, the final was ready to commence.
I think now would be a good time to let all you pie enthusiasts out there know that if you didn’t take part, you missed out on steak and potatoe, big breakfast and steak and stilton pies in the heats, followed up by chicken tikka in the final!
As you can imagine, by this point the competitors weren’t exactly hungry for pie, but they did their best and the winning team, with a time of 5 minutes 46 seconds was Why Cry When You Can Have Pie, who narrowly fought of the Chipmunks and Don’t Be Shy Show Us Your Pie.
The winning team included; SU President, Gavin Williams, Rob Ferguson, Andy Greenacre, Daniel Haynes and a guy from the Cricket club (sorry I didn’t get your name, you left too soon!) and the points went to Cricket and Snowboarding.
And what did they win? You guessed it…a pie!!! Not sure what flavour, but lets put it this way, it didn’t look like they were going to eat it any time soon!
That’s it for yesterday’s events. I’m in the Pluto office at the mo so I can’t upload any pics and interviews, but they will be here by the end of the day I promise, even if I’m up until 1am!!!
Chat to you in a bit.
Em. x
Hey everyone, really sorry I didn’t get back on here last night, felt a bit too tipsy after the cocktails! I got to say, it’s the cheapest way I’ve seen twenty-odd people get tiddly!!!
Right then, so to start where I left off. Last night I headed on down to the Atrium where an array of spirits, liquors and mixers had been lined up and the guys from Mojito in town were ready and waiting to show us how to make some great drinks.
To start off with we were all treated to a cocktail called Cham 69 (or at least I think it was called that) and then a choice of either sambuca or tequila, which really helped to loosen everyone up and started off the tipsy feeling in me (I’m such a lightweight it’s ridiculous!!!).
Throughout the night we were offered more drinks if we wanted and Blue Lagoon and Sex on the Beach were available, but the really fun bit was when we each got the chance to make a cocktail. I’ll be putting up some pics tomorrow of people making their various ones and how they all turned out, but I have to say I don’t know how the guys working behind a bar remember everything that goes in! Not to mention not breaking anything when they are flinging the glasses and bottles around (which I’m reliably informed is known as “flailing” in the trade!), but not much of that went on last night.
When it came to my turn I made a Key West Cooler, which has at seven different ingredients that included vodka, midori and I think orange juice went in there as well. I was pretty pleased with the effect too because it is meant to be layered and I think everyone who made a layered cocktail achieved it so we were all pretty chuffed with our efforts.
One tip not to forget when making your own cocktails is: one of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak!
I think the highlight of the evening was when Hayley Stubbs had to make and drink a Flaming Lamborghini. I have absolutley no idea what went in it, but it was meant to be on fire when she drank it (though there wasn’t enough sambuca left to get the effect) and as she drank it two more shots were put in it! Hope your hangover wasn’t too bad this morning hun!
But, in all seriousness the idea for the masterclass wasn’t so that everyone could get drunk for £2.50. It was a great way to try out drinks that you may or may not like and learn a few of the techniques needed to make them. The question and answer session that the guys did was helpful, but my only wish was that there was a receipe list handed out at the end.
Interviews with Hayley and Chek who runs Mojito will be up tomorrow with some pics.
So then, on to today. Well, I’m happy to report I didn’t have a hangover, just a lecture 😦 but after that was done I headed off to the Arabic Language class that was on.
Unfortunately, I did get to this half way through, which didn’t help me to pick it up, but I have to say I found out more than I had though I would.
The booklets that we were given were fantastic and we used them to spell our names and learnt how to hold a basic conversation in Arabic.
But, I also learnt how important it is to be polite in their culture. It might sound like a nag but I think too many of us tend to forget our ‘P’s and Q’s’ in today’s world, but our tutor for the session, Summer Mouallem told us how important politeness is and how easily you can offend someone if you forget.
Now, I have to admit I struggled to pick up the lingo and the writing still doesn’t make sense to me and I wasn’t great at getting my tongue around some of the words, but I think it was a great taster session for anyone hoping to take up the language as an elective or certificate and even if they chose not to do Arabic it was a great advertisement for the University’s language department.
An interview with Summer and some pics will also be going up tomorrow.
So then, what else happened today I hear you ask?! Well, to be honest today was a relatively quiet day for GIAG 08. Unfortunately, Irish Dance Class was cancelled due to lack of interest, but the Ikea trip certainly generated enough people’s attention and the Cooking and Eating event held tonight in the Atrium was a sell out by lunchtime.
I didn’t go to either of these due to other commitments, but I can tell you that those of you who went to Ikea should have gorgeous looking rooms and houses now (I have to say most of room is covered in Ikea products) and those that went to the masterclass should have some great ideas to eat healthy this year. Not only that, but you should be pretty stuffed too!!!
I went to a similar masterclass last year and it’s still on the site if you want to read the review, but for those who missed tonight’s event, have a look to see if the Cooking Masterclass taking place next Thurday (2nd Oct) evening isn’t fully booked yet. It’s a similar event and a good excuse to try some great grub!!!
Right well that’s all for now, but come back tomorrow for those pics, interviews and little bit more about what’s been happening in GIAG, including the Clubs and Socs Fair, Lacrosse and the Pie Eating Contest in Source tomorrow night!!!
And if you have been to any of the events or are planning to go, let me know, send me your reviews, pics comments and anything else you think would great on the site and I’ll get them up. My email is pfeatures@uclan.ac.uk.
Remember, it’s your union, your GIAG and this is site is yours too so let everyone know what’s going on!!!
Bye. x
Giving It All A Go 2008 
Give It A Go: Day One
September 22, 2008Hi guys, can’t believe it’s six months since I last wrote on this site! But here we are again and this time we have two weeks of ‘Give It A Go’ so there will be plenty of stuff appearing on the site.
For all the freshers and those that didn’t visit the site last time, I’m Emily Davies, Features Editor of Pluto and I’ve been given the task of giving as much of what’s going on a go as poss. I was shattered by the end of the event back in February so who knows what I’ll be like by the end of the next two weeks.
Again I’m looking for anyone who goes to the events to write their own reviews and add comments for the site, especially as I can’t make it to every event and if you see me at an event (I’ll be the short, ginger person with a dictaphone and camera!) come over and let me know what you think of the site and the whole GIAG experience.
Now I think I need to add this, if you are interested in an activity then you really need to sign up for it down in the SU otherwise there is a pretty good chance the event will be cancelled due to lack of interest so don’t just turn up, let them know in advance. The buddies are down in the SU if you need some help and want to know a bit more about various events and trust me, no matter what you do, you will have a good time!!!
Well that’s it for now. Unfortunately Reiki was cancelled this morning due to lack of interest, but Circus Skills in on right now and the Drama Society are also hosting an event in the SU this afternoon so hope to see you there before I rush off to my lecture at 4pm! Then I’ll be popping into Source at 5pm to have a go at the Wii Boxing Tournament so if you think you could fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee get yourself down there!!!
Tata for now,
Em. x
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