Can you guess what Duke of Edinburgh, Green Fingers, and Give it Go! have in common? It's not that difficult, really:) These are names of just three of about 400 different clubs and societies the University of Leeds students are members of. What's important is that all of them are the creation of their members who organize themselves, plan things and do them. Can't decide what you are really interested in? Then you can start with Give it a Go! which allows you to try a variety of different activities organized by members of other clubs and societies for you to taste the flavour of what they are up to. Thanks to Give it a Go! http://ru-ru.facebook.com/group.php?gid=33510196433 I have done quite a few exciting things and hope to do more.
One of my interests is the media and how they impact us, so I did not think twice when Give it a Go! had a trip to the National Media Museum in Bradford. It has an impressive variety of exhibits telling you the history of the world and British media through multimedia presentations, a huge number of old television sets, cameras, tape recorders and other sorts of equipment - you name it! - that help you travel through time and see for real where we started and where we are now with technology.
Something that I liked the best, though, about this museum was its TV Heaven, a facility which allows you to choose from about 900 programs representing the history of British television and watch them in the comfort of viewing rooms. They feel like your best loved place in your own home. What I watched was an episodes from Little Britain, a satirical show mocking the ordinary and really demonstrating how healthy laughing at yourself can be!
Another activity I participated in thanks to Give It a Go! was Mug painting, which was exactly what it says, i.e., paint a mug using your own imagination and creativity as well as paints and other stuff provided by the organizers. I am not at all good at painting, and when I got my mug I just stared at it and felt completely at a loss. But then the energy and the excitement in the room helped me to do the job. Yes, my friend said that my creation could make a mother of a three-year old proud, but I don't care... I had an enjoyable evening spent in fine company.
Quite a large number of LUU activities are connected with working in the community and helping it to become a better place. For example, there is a beautiful Woodhouse Ridge, an area of woodland in one of the city parts. We were invited to come there to help preserve it by collecting the shrubs or doing some maintenance jobs to keep it nice and clean. You could also help by teaching English to refugee seekers, visiting with care home residents, learning to provide first aid and many-many more.
Writing this has made me think about doing something useful for the community too. It feels great, isn't it?
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Comments
Hi Natalya -
I love this as a philosophy for life! I'm really enjoying reading your blogs. You're making me think and making me laugh - and making me think I must give new things a go.
Best wishes -
Penny
Hi--
I did another Give it a Go! yesterday, which was just fantastic!!! I went to play golf. It was a real adventure! We got lost in the roundabouts of Leeds and then one golf range we were hoping to use was full and the other one already closed by the time we got there. Luckily, in the third one they let us in.
I could not imagine it was so difficult just to hit the ball. You stand there focusing on the ball, which you have to place at a certain distance from you, with your hands holding the club at an angle which depends on where you aiming to throw the ball (but I'm getting too far with this), and then you make a swing and instead of the ball you hit... the ground. Ouch! It hurts!!!
During our session we did not go into the field, which I thought we'd be doing but were practising in throwing the balls from a tented area of the golf course into the field. Having practised for about half an hour or so I started hitting the ball instead of the ground more regularly and had some of them reach quite far into the field. I was excited! And so were the other students who gave it a go too:)
I'm now thinking about taking golf up. Why not? I think it will be a lot of fun even though my peers do not share my excitement that much. They said golf is for the rich and... old. I knew about the rich but not about the old. I don't care, I'm going to try anyway.:))
Hi Penny--
Just curious what made you laugh? I'm not saying there is nothing to smile about but things that make people laugh differ across cultures. I tried to tell my group mates some Russian jokes, but they did not find them funny no matter how hard I tried to explain to them what it was all about. At the same time, there are some things people universally find funny but these seem to be more to do with our (in)ability to do certain things, more of Charlie Chaplin type of things.
What's your experience with understanding the humor from other cultures?
Hee hee. I'm a very visual person, so slapstick often makes me laugh - which often perplexes my British friends, who tend to be far more amused by wordplay.
I laughed at your description of your mug painting - producing something that would make a three year old proud. I imagined your mug painting, your amused facial expression, etc. It was funny but also joyful - so I was laughing on two fronts!
Yeah, it was funny indeed. My idea of what the session should be like - as I realised later - was drawn from something I expected it to be like if it were held back home. Now what I am thinking about is the differences between cultures even in such small things. But if we pay attention to them too we can become so much more enriched with ideas and, probably, come to a better understanding of what is good/not very in our own culture and those we come into a contact with. Yeah, but then a big question is how to encourage people to try to understand and accept the ways of other cultures. This is what we have to learn, isn't it?