Extras: Wine Tasting and Speed Dating

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

Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s Interviews

Ok I’m back for the last leg of my interviews so here are Thursday, Friday and Saturday together, as you remember I didn’t get to do as many activities on those days for one reason or other, but sit back and enjoy anyway.

Thursday:

Drama and Speed Dating – Carl Bullen: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bed1nJ2Ihac

Friday:

Surfing – Alan Briden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ruYUdJRis

American Football – Martin Fitzpatrick & David Cox: www.youtube.com/watch?v=45UEsvZQnMQ

Fashion Show – Aron Bryne-Carter: www.youtube.com/watch?v=80mxdWXQQDw

Fashion Show – Jerry Bardwell: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmJXNEWKTrE

Saturday:

RAG Abseil – Rajay Balgobin: www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4EU0d2vwR8

RAG Abseil – Ross Pimlott: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTkDfabisyA

I’m really sorry I didn’t manage to get interviews from the Laser Tag on Saturday afternoon or the Liverpool trip that was on the Sunday but I do have one more set of interviews coming up for you!

Enjoy!

Emily J

Update!!!

Hey guys just a quick update for you. I’m really sorry I still haven’t got the interviews up for you, but they will be up by the end of Tuesday I promise and hope this hasn’t been too much of a pain for anyone. Also, in answer to Mo’s comment about the Speed Dating email, to my knowledge no-one has had their results yet and I think the GIAG guys will be getting round to it asap, but I’d give it until the beginning of next week so sorry if anyone was hoping to find their Valentine’s date. If anyone else can share some light on this then please leave a comment or if you just want to comment on GIAG week in general then feel free.

Take care,

Emily J

Day Four: Speed Dating

Hi! Well Day Four yet again had lots happening for Give It A Go, but unfortunately, Thursday’s my busiest day in uni and I had an exam, so the only thing I managed to get to was Speed Dating in the evening.

The guys organising this event really put in a lot of effort because the Atrium was transformed with candles for mood lighting and all the tables lined up ready for everyone to work their way round their dates.

If you didn’t already know, this event sold out earlier in the week, but due to the popular demand, more tickets went on sale yesterday and by the evening there were about 120 people taking part!

It was a much more even balance of boys and girls then I had expected and it seemed that everyone had been worrying about it, as all us girls thought hardly any lads would turn up and, to my surprise, most of the lads didn’t expect any girls to turn up.

The idea was that we would be given a number and then as everyone had their dates they would mark that person with a yes (Y), no (N), or maybe (?) and afterwards the marks would be added up and if you got any Y’s then you would receive an email letting you know, so I’ll let you know if I get any!

Unfortunately, there were a few teething problems, as not everybody’s number ran in order and it was so loud that sometimes it was a struggle to hear what your partner was saying. But it still added to the fun, especially when nobody could hear that it was time to move on and even when some did, they still stayed with the person they were talking to, leaving you sat at an empty table!

The night was so random and that includes some of the people I met! It was a much larger mix of people than I expected and it was a great way of meeting people who you wouldn’t usually talk to.

Everyone that I did spoke to said they were enjoying it and one guy admitted that even if you didn’t meet your soul mate, you were likely to make some friends, though if I see any of them today I doubt I’ll be able to say much as my throat is sore!

I think it’s something that definitely should be repeated in the future and by the looks, it was successful enough to do that. Just one plea for next time; when we are called through from Source, can the person collecting us not shout “Speed Dating” at the top of their voice, it was slightly embarrassing!

I’m really sorry I can’t tell you more about yesterday and that I didn‘t get any pictures from Speed Dating, but if you went to the Hair and Make-Up Session, Self Defence, CV Workshop, Paintballing or the Table Top War Gaming event, or if you get lots of Y’s from last night, then leave a comment.

Here’s the list of today’s events that I’m going to:

11am-12pm Surfing

2pm – 3pm Dance Street Pop Video

3pm – 4pm American Football (If it’s off campus, I won’t be going to the Pop Video)

4pm – 5pm Pro Evo

7pm – Onwards Redress Fashion Show

Take care.

Emily J

Day Three: Circus Skills

My last mission of the day was to try out Circus Skill. I’ve walked past these guys most Wednesdays and it always looks like they’re having a good time so, after missing it on Monday when they did magic as well, I had to catch up with them.

I was greeted by Jamie Weston, Chairman of the club, who introduced me to Steph Weaver, the club’s treasurer who was going to teach me how to spin a plate.

Spinning a plate may sound easy, but it wasn’t as simple as just placing the plate on top of the stick and spinning it, I had to learn how to spin it around the rim, going faster and faster until I could just stop and the stick would somehow end up in the middle and I pleased to say I did it after a bit of practise.

Luckily, we weren’t using really plates otherwise there would have been a lot of mess with the amount of times I dropped mine, but it was really good learning how to do it and I was determined to get it right in the end. I even went on to balance the stick, with the plate spinning on top, on the palm of my hand and learnt how to throw it in the air, catch it and still keep it spinning!

Jamie told me that he joined the club to learn how to juggle and he had been part of it ever since and I’m not surprised, it’s a really addictive activity. I kept thinking “just one more spin” even though I needed to get back to write up my review for Pluto’s feature, which is out on Friday.

I didn’t manage to get any pictures of this event, but they are in the Atrium every Wednesday and if you are determined enough to keep trying and want to learn some great circus skills, you should think about joining them.

Well that’s it for yesterday sorry. I didn’t get to do any of the evening activities as I was watching Biffy Clyro at 53° , but if you went to Kung Fu, the Cocktail Master Class or took part in the Pool Tournament in the evening, or went Snowboarding during the day, leave a comment.

Nb: Thanks to Ricki Dewsbury for this video of the Cocktail Masterclass: http://youtube.com/watch?v=umZi1epSYCI

And just before I go here’s today’s preview, sorry it’s a bit empty, got lots of lectures, but if you go to anything leave a comment:

3pm-4pm Self Defence

7pm-10.30pm Speed Dating

Thanks, have a good day.

Emily J

Give It A Go 2008!!!

Right then, my first ever blog! I’ve never done one of these before so please bear with me!

Well first of all let me introduce myself. I’m Emily Davies, 20 and a 1^st Year Journalism student. I’m Pluto’s Deputy Features Editor and have been given the opportunity to sample as much of Give It A Go 2008 as possible!

My job over the coming week is to take part in as many activities as I possibly can and let you guys know how I got on, though hopefully I’ll see lots of you at the events anyway (I’ll be the one with the dictaphone and camera!) finding out how much of a success you think the week has been.

Right now I’m really excited about doing this, but I’ve been warned by the end of it I’ll be really tired! From what I’ve heard the events are being booked up quickly so if you haven’t already got tickets, you better get down to the SU as soon as possible.

The week looks like it will be great fun and give everyone the chance to take part in some new activities. Personally, I can’t wait for the Roller Disco, but knowing me I’ll be on the floor more than anything and the Speed Dating should be good, especially as it’s so close to Valentines!

Each day I’ll give you a preview of what I’m doing the following day, so if you want to see me abseiling or just to say hi and let me know what you think of Give It A Go 2008, feel free!

I think that just about sums it all up. I hope you’re all as excited as I am about this, can’t wait to give it all a go, it’s definitely going to be something to remember!

Keep an eye out for my next blog and feel free to add your own comments and stuff too.

Take care and go get those tickets!

Emily J