Last week I participated in my first ever Model United Nations conference in Warsaw, Poland. For those of you who don't know what Model United Nations is an educational stimulation of the United Nations, meaning that students basically "role play" or mock the United Nations and all that they do. Each student (formally known as delegate) is assigned a country to represent and a committee represent that country in. Each committee has a different topic in which the delegates have to come up with a resolution to the problem within the topic, however, their views and what they do must match their country's views and potential actions.
A group of nine of us came from my school and created the Vilnius International School delegation. We only had about a week to a week and a half to prepare (thanks to the conference taking its time in accepting our applications, payment, and assigning us our country/committee). I was assigned the country of Germany and was put on the Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC), which was my first choice! (Normally, delegates don't get their first choice, I think I was the only one who put their first preference in my school, most people got their third preference in country or not even their preference country. One of the guys didn't even get any of his preferences). The topic of the ECOSOC committee was: Establishing an affordable and sustainable energy sector in developing African states. I chose this committee I know quite bit in sustainability and have an interest in it, however, after I chose it I realized that the topic was more directed towards funding the sector instead on sustainable energy. After, receiving my country I had to start working on my position paper. The position paper had to consist of my country's policies and position on the topic (google Model United Nations for more details, if you feel I'm not explaining it well enough, {if I went into more detail then this post would be even longer then what it will potentially be and probably quite boring}). It took me quite some time to write mine because I needed to do a lot of research in order to be comfortable to write it. Also, as stated by my school, all my work had to be done on time including the ones due during the conference and we could not use MUN (Model United Nations) as an excuse of not getting it done so I had even more work than normal on top of the position paper and other preparation. However, I got it done and in by the deadline as set by my committee's chairs (president and vice president of the committee) and soon it was the day to leave.
We left on Wednesday, October 14th at 5:00 in the afternoon meaning we had to go to school and that I had to bring my luggage and whatever else I needed to school that day. I could barely function throughout the day during school because of the excitement! I had been looking forward to this day for weeks and it was finally time! Soon the day was over and my friend Alice and I went to her house to get her stuff as well as do some last minute thing such as stretching before the eight hour bus ride to Warsaw. We took a taxi from her house to the bus station, which was a little sketchy because the whole time Alice was freaking out about how the taxi driver wasn't going the right way (or so she thought, he actually was). We finally got there and went inside with no idea where to go. After looking around we decided to wait outside in front of the building. A couple of minutes later two of our classmates came and we all just kind of stood there with not a clue where to go. Finally, one of our teachers came and took us to where we needed to go. We 'checked' our suitcases on and got onto the bus. My classmates and I were the last to get on the bus and we saw there were open sits so we were able to sit with who we wanted to sit with or so we thought. Not even ten minutes after the bus left it stopped to let more people on. We then had to scatter around and either go back to our original sits, ask the person to sit in our sit instead, or find another open sit and pray that nobody was coming to sit in it. Lucky for us, Alice and I didn't have to move. The bus ride basically consisted of me choreographing, Alice and I watching movies, trying to see what one of our classmates was watching, and talking. The bus ride didn't seem that long at all and soon we arrived in Warsaw. We arrived around 11:20 pm and then we had to figure out the buses to our hotel. By some time after midnight we arrived to our hotel and were sent to our rooms and told to meet at a certain time the next morning. As Alice and I were the only girls out of the nine that came, we naturally got to room together.
Next morning at the hotel, showing our director that we made it safely to Warsaw
The next morning, Alice and I got up, got ready, had breakfast, and were completely on time to the morning meeting (which soon became a trend, Alice and I were always early or on time and everyone else was either on time or late). We had a discussion about the conference and then were sent to edit our position paper, work on our opening speeches, and to change into our formal clothing. After that we set off into the city in our formal cloths to do some independent site-seeing, shopping, eating, and whatever else we wanted to do in that allotted four hours of free time. I made the mistake of bringing only heels as my formal shoes and I'm not really one to wear heels in general so within two hour of wearing them my feet were already killing me and according to the boys, I was incredibly wobbly and looked like I was going to break my ankle every time I took a step. However, I forced myself through it and ignored their comments of how horrible I was at walking in heels (they should try it same time and think before they speak because it's harder than they think). We got many strange looks as we wondered through the street, it's not a everyday sight that you see a bunch of teenagers in suits and formal wear. We all split up and Alice and I went to a shopping center. We mostly just looked at stuff because we had no concept of polish zlotys and honestly had no idea how much everything was. However, we took advantage of there being no law in Poland on buying energy drinks. Almost two hours into our free time, Alice and I had nothing to do. We were bored of the shopping center and had no idea where to go besides that. We went in the direction of the shopping center that the boys went to in hopes find them so we could see what they wanted to do. We ended up sitting on the couch in a clothing store for about a hour just talking. After that we decided to go to previous shopping center's grocery store to get stuff for breakfasts and dinners (the hotel's breakfast was expensive and we didn't even want to know the prices for dinner) and then headed to the meeting point. We found a couple of the boys in a cafe and then joined them for reminder of the time. Our teachers were late to the meeting point but they soon they came and we headed off to Batory High School for the opening ceremonies.
All ready for the opening ceremony
Shortly after getting to the high school, we all got our conference materials, including our country's placards, lanyards with our name, committee, and status, a handbook, a guide, and page notes (page notes are notes that we can send to other people representing other countries in and or out of our committee, they are meant to be for business but in reality, the majority of the time they aren't and are just personal notes to our friends). We then went to find other people with the same country as us and determined who was doing the opening speech. The delegation of the Federal Republic of Germany (formal talk, this is literally how we had to speak, always in third person) was a group of 12 of the greatest people. Everyone was very nice and I really enjoyed talking and getting to know them. Soon it was time for us to find our seats and start the opening ceremony. It started off with a bunch of guest speakers and after that we had a coffee break. When the coffee break was over we moved into opening speeches.
Opening speeches are basically when one member of your country's delegation goes up in front of the whole assembly and gives a speech on your country's general policies. They are generally quite boring. After about four or five speeches, the country of Australia was giving their speech when the lights shut off and sirens started to go off. Everyone sat there in confusion as other lights started to flash and the sirens continued. I wasn't sure if we were supposed to leave or what was going on. A voice came on informing us that they were a Russian terrorist group they had just attacked the USA and encouraged us to start a war with the USA/join their efforts to destroy the USA with a bad Photoshop of the White House on fire. We were having a crisis! The chair then suspended the opening speeches and opened the general speakers list. However, they refused to turn the lights back on because we apparently "lost power" and our backup generators weren't "working" so we had to prepare and give speeches in the dark. Basically, it was dialogue/"fight" between the USA and Russia as well as countries that stated their support for whatever country and some of their views on the crisis. The voice came on again encouraging to join the efforts with another bad photo shop of the White House exploding. There was then a motion to move into an unmoderated caucus (time for us to get up and discuss solutions with other countries). I had no idea what to do because I was so confused on what was going on so I found some of the classmates and we just stood there and talked to each other about our confusion and overall thoughts so far. When it was over, the general speakers list continued. Suddenly, while a country was speaking the voice came on again and told us we had ten minutes to decide to join their efforts or to have our building bombed (another bad photo shop of our building exploding). We continued to debate and failed to come up with a solution and after counting down, waiting to "die" the lights came back on and person with an Obama mask came out. Apparently Obama saved us, said he was sorry, and encouraged Kayne for 2020. The meeting was then adjourned and we all headed back to the hotel to go to sleep (or in Alice and I's case, convince some of the guys to walk us to the gas station to get food and talk with them in our room, have them leave and then go to bed).
The next morning, we got up at a horrible hour, got our formal wear on, and made ourselves look presentable to the business world. We then met/waited on our classmates in the lobby and then left about 30 minutes later than intended. Our group was split between two buildings, the Parliament building/ Sejm of the Republic on Poland and Primate's Palace. I was in Primate's Palace along with Alice and five of the guys. We, surprisingly, arrived early and practiced our opening speeches. Soon it was time for the first session of the eight hours we were allotted to debate for within our committee. I gave my opening speech and instantly made an alliance with France (because she was nice and our countries seemed to share similar policies). We then made alliances with about half of the committee. We discussed off topic for a while (talking about whether to use renewable or fossil fuels instead of how to fund an affordable energy sector) and soon started to write a letter to the World Bank that we ended up disregarding at the end of the fourth session. Despite being tired, we still had good food and plenty of coffee and tea to enjoy.
Committee in action
The next day we continued the debate but this time the countries of the USA, South Africa, and Algeria presented a resolution that we then discussed, edited, made amendments to, and then eventually passed it. We then wrote a letter to the World Bank asking for a loan. Surprisingly we got done early and had nothing more to discuss because our chair knew for a fact that the World Bank wouldn't get back to us that day and our meeting was adjourned. The committee was a really great of people and we all got along very well. There was no fights between any country which is surprising and made it kind of less interesting and or boring. My only regret is that I wish that I spoke more. I didn't because I;m the type of person who has to know what they're talking about in order to speak. I now know what to prepare for for the next conference that we go to and I'm honestly very excited for it!
The wonderful Economic and Social Council
After the adjournment, I had to wait with one of my classmates and a teacher for the Human Rights Council (Alice's committee) to get done. They were late finishing and we were done a hour early so we had to sit in the Primate's Palace for a hour and a half. We then got Pizza Hut (which was actually not the same as the US but it was still okay) and headed back to the hotel. Alice and I then took one of the guys to the gas station again, walked around the street surrounding the hotel, and then headed back to our room to eat cookies, listen to music and attempt to prepare for the general assembly the next morning.
The next morning we dressed in our formal clothes one last time, packed our suitcases, and headed to the Muranow Conference Centre in the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. We were discussing the bombings in Syria. One of my classmates even spoke on the behalf of his delegation, the delegation of Iran. Soon the first session was over and so was my classmates and I's MUN experience. We all met up, got our suitcases, and changed in the bathrooms into more comfortable clothes. We then headed to the cafeteria in the museum for lunch. I had some polish dumplings and carrot salad that had a lot of spice in it (I had to convince the waiter that I didn't want a glass of wine and was underage which was hard to do because he kept insisting).
After the first session, our last photo in formal attire. The guy in the center got awarded the best delegate on his committee!
After eating we all got on a bus to take us to the bus station to go back to Vilnius. Even though people told us that they didn't check the tickets on the bus, control came in. Luckily, I had my ticket and it was valid (the lady behind us forgot/didn't know to validate her ticket and had to pay 164 zlotys or 40 euros). One of my classmates wasn't so lucky and had to pay the fine as well. We then had 20 minutes of free time to go get snacks for the bus ride back to Vilnius. The bus then came and we got on and found empty sits praying that we wouldn't have to move like last time (luckily we didn't). Alice and I attempted to watch a movie but the wifi wasn't working very well so we just talked, ate, and listened to music/watched previously downloaded tv shows/movies (Alice), and choreographed (me). Soon we arrived back to Vilnius at 11:20 pm and all headed home with whoever picked us up (in my case my host father).
Overall, Warsaw and MUN was a wonderful experience that I'm so happy I had the opportunity to participate in. I really wish I had participated in MUN while I was high school and hope to participate in university (as well as the next one in Milan). I'm also very proud of myself for surviving wearing heels (it's been a week and I still am feeling the affects/one of my feet is still a little swollen). I now know what to prepare for for the next conference and it helped get another view on my potential career in diplomacy and the international field.
