Last Tuesday I decided to attend this Lecturers vs. Students University Challenge event, mostly because my French professor was on the team of lecturers to face off with the students! But also because the £3 to get in was to raise money for SVA Senegal (Student Volunteers Abroad), which goes towards eradicating forced child begging and exploitation in Senegal- a pretty worthy cause!
So the challenge was set to be in the GUU Debates chamber- I wasn't quite sure what the even would entail, probably some sort of debate on current issues. However, as I went alone that evening, things were starting late and I happened to have my iTouch on me, I wrote down my thoughts or first impressions...
"Well I've never been to a debate before, so this is all a rather new experience! Since this one is especially to raise money for Senegal, I figured I would come to support the project and check out the whole debate thing that the GUU is so famous for. The being said, this is in the GUU building, in the actual debate hall to be specific. More and more people keep pouring in, some sitting here in front of the stage like me, others going through some secret passage that takes them upstairs to the balcony seating. Most people have drinks that they bought downstairs (actually, across the hall) and then brought up. It's always interesting to me that alcohol is simply part of the Uni functions! There are even professors here whom I'm sure will grab a pint later [they did]. Back home the idea of drinking with your professors is pretty unheard of. Things are running late, or perhaps they are just hoping more people will show. Anyhow, we are half and hour late! The stage is set up just like the movies, with two tables with four chairs each for the competing teams, and two old-fashioned microphones on them. In the middle is the host's table and the scoreboard. Look like we are finally starting!"
So a couple notes on this... first off, it was not actually a debate! Turns out the evening was more of a jeopardy-quiz-trivia affair. Questions went from "Saved by the Bell" topics to European geography and everywhere in-between, there were even questions about the US! (and no I still don't know what the national beverage of the US is... any takers?). There is also the fact that what I originally thought were old-fashioned microphones... were actually horns. As in once somebody knew the answer, they reached out and squeezed the top for a loud noise.
First the four goofy, but amazingly smart student teams battled it out. The last team then went on to face the lecturers...
Who lost spectacularly! But it was all in good fun (they had the misfortune to get all the Saved by the Bell questions, a show I've never seen, but apparently is more our generation), and they graciously accepted their stunning prizes: a toothbrush per professor.
All in all, it was a fun evening, where I met some girls from Paris and Frankfurt, learned some new facts and gave to a worthy cause. Not bad for a night at Uni.
In other news, I've been closely following the situation in Japan. It's horrible. And I have a flat mate here from Japan as well who only just found out her family is okay. Yesterday many of the Japanese students were outside the library collecting donations for the British Red Cross, and I spotted a guy in my Photo class. His family is okay too, but things are clearly not good. Please donate if you get the chance to relief work in Japan! Students friends and families are counting on it!
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