Model UN

This past weekend was the National Model UN Simulation in DC. As part of my program, I had the chance to participate. Our program represented the USA, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Sierra Leone, and Bosnia/Herzegovina. The other class from TWC represented Iran and Israel. It was quite an interesting array of countries to choose from! I ended up representing the USA on the General Assembly 2nd Committee, which dealt with globalization and development.

There were around 500 or so participants in NMUN (National Model UN) at the DC conference, from all over the USA and around the world! Our committee had 50 delegations (countries) represented, which was large for a committee. However, considering the topic, being the USA was pretty awesome, but stressful. There was the potential to be under attack for the USA's trade and development policies, but that only happened a few times. The large majority of delegations wanted the USA's support, so they were willing to work along with us. Overall, NMUN was an awesome, stressful, fun weekend. Long days, as we didn't get done until 10pm or so on Friday and Saturday.

Our committee ended up passing 8 resolutions on a wide variety of topics. The USA sponsored 2 of them, and was a signatory on 4. But we voted for all 8 of them. :)

The simulation was actually done very seriously. The rules were followed pretty much perfectly, which are pretty much the rules of the UN, in terms of the procedures and such. We had to be very specific about our wording and such. It was pretty interesting view of how the UN works. Some delegations also acted the part perfectly, reflecting the actual wording and attitudes of the real UN delegations of the country. As the USA, I had a bit more leeway in how I interacted with other nations.

We had a nice surprise at the end of the simulation. The USA delegation got an honorable mention for the best delegations at the simulation! It's awesome because nearly all of us were first timers for NMUN. Pretty good overall! I also had several people say they were surprised I had never done it before, and one person said I was like Hillary Clinton. Considering she's the Secretary of State, I thought that was a great compliment!