New York City - Israel - NMUN - Distinguished Delegation

Much was going on during our 12 day stay in New York!

The reason why we (11 Students from Chemnitz University, including me) were there was NMUN, the National Model UN: 2500 College students from 29 countries simulation the United Nations for 5 days. Each delegation representing one country - not its own. Chemnitz' students representing Israel. - These are the facts.
And now about our experiences:

It was amazing, meeting all those people and then becoming diplomats. We had 4 days of hard work: In each committee delegates held speeches, discussed and tried so find solutions to current issues.
I was in the General Assembly Second Committee, Economics and Financial. Our task was to address Food Price Volatility. There were different working groups (mostly regional groups, like the EU, the African Union or the Arab countries) working on different draft resolutions. We had long days, with sessions fom 8:30 a.m. till 11 at night, it was a lot of work, but it was also fun - and we learned a lot! But it was also tough being an Israeli delegate: There are 2 countries in the world who do not belong to any regional "bloc" (or caucus bloc): the U.S. and Israel - which didn't make it easy. So it took a while to find a suitable group to work with. But in the end we worked on two draft resolutions.
On the 4th day we went into voting procedure, and passed 4 resolutions, only two drafts have been rejected. Both the drafts we had been working on have been passed! :-) While voting on the draft resolutions, it was interesting again to represent Israel. One example: there was one draft which actually was a good one, with a good content. But it was sponsored by all Arab countries, including Iran - being Israel, we could therefore not vote in favor of that draft, but obstained.

2 of our delegates had another great experience: The Security Council, which had also been simulated, discussed the Israel-Palestine-Question. And therefore they asked both parties to speak before the SC! We had been given 5 or 6 questions in advance, and then had to answer them. There was also a direct confrontation between our delegates and the delegates from the Palestinian Territories. That's were our delegates could show that they were really well prepared: my friend said that even though the Palestinian delegates were native speakers they could easily outtalk them! It was great that we had been given the opportunity to prove ourselves: To show that were really well prepared to be able to "stay in character" - the most important thing at the Model UN.

All the sessions which I have talked about took part in the Sheraton hotel we were staying at.
But we also got to go to the real UN!

On the first day of the conference the Opening Ceremony was held in the Great Hall at UN Headquarters, the General Assembly hall you know from the media! We were really honored to be there. And we even got to sit where the "real" Israeli delegates sit!

On the 5th day of the conference we went to the Headquarters again. In the morning there was another voting procedure. Resolutions passed by the GA Committees have to be passed again by the whole GA Planery, and that's what happened that morning. And it took place in one of the rooms where the real GA meets - this included using the electronic voting system - really exciting :-)

Afterwards we had some time in the building, to visit the book shop and have a look at the exhibitions.

In the afternoon we attended the Closing Ceremony, again held at the Great Hall. By now being seasoned diplomats, that wasn't such a great deal anymore ;-) No, just kidding, we really appreciated having the chance to be there again. But there wasn't the whole "gosh, look were we are, wow,..."-thing from the first day anymore.

The final part of the ceremony was the presentation of the Awards. About 20% of the 300 delegations have been awarded for their good work: Included is how active you are, how well prepared, if you achieved great things, and, if you stayed in character of the country you were representing. There are 3 award categories: Honorable Mention, Distinguished Delegation and Outstanding Delegation.

And we, Chemnitz University, representing Israel, received the Distinguished Delegation Award!
That was a great conclusion of the whole project. This means we did our job well! :-)


Apart from the Conference we did some other things in NYC, too! Before and after the conference we had time to do that.
One day we walked around Times Square (where our hotel was really close to) and Downtown. One day we went on top of the Rockefeller Center and had a great view! On a sunny day we enjoyed a few hours in Central Park. Another day we got a great walking tour trough the lower East Side and Brooklyn - it was awesome! And it wasn't just some regular tourist tour. Our Faculty Advisor knew the guide from last year, and he was really cool! He has lived in Manhattan all his life and knew some great spots to show us. We also took the Staten Island Ferry - which runs from Manhattan to Staten Island, and is free - which took us past Lady Liberty and, going back, offered a magnificent view of Manhattan's skyline.
At night we went to some great dinner places, and sometimes to a pub afterwards. Oh yes, and we did some shopping, of course.

All in all, we had a wonderful time in New York!

I was back home Easter Sunday in the afternoon - my brother's 18th birthday (the really big one in Germany). But everyone except Sascha and my Mum thought I'd come back the next day - so it was a big surprise when I suddenly showed up! :-) It was a nice birthday party. And on Monday Alex took me to Chemnitz - being allowed to drive now, and having his own car. Great! :-)

Back in the U.S. - after a (way too) long time!

As most of you probably know, in March I was heading to the US again! I couldn't wait - I was so excited!
So on March 8 the airplane took me to Phoenix - and I had Sascha with me! We had a wonderful time with the Arlottis! I loved being back - after almost 3 years! But it didn't seem like such a long time at all... it's great how we never lose touch. It was also great that Sascha and the Arlottis could get to know each other. Sascha REALLY enjoyed being in the US, getting to know them, experiencing the American life... he was fascinated!
During our stay in Phoenix (the boys were on Spring break during our first week which was awesome!) we did some fun things: We watched the sunset from South Mountain, we hiked South Mountain, one night we went to a NBA-game (Sascha had that idea and we had a lot of fun there! Unfortunately that German Dirk Nowitzki playing for Dallas was just too good and the Suns lost - but we still enjoyed the game ;-) ), we had dinner at really fun places, we watched Eric and his team playing soccer, Sascha and I went into a batting cage for the first time (and did poorly ;-) ), one day we went to a ancient Native American site, we visited the Desert Botanical Garden and the Glass Exhibition there which was beautiful, and we drove along the Apache Trail which brought us back in time and we got a pretty amazing Wild West Experience - and the landscape was gorgeous!!

Of course we also loved simply hanging out in the back yard enjoying the sun and temperatures of 80-90 degrees - especially while being told that it's snowing again and again in Germany! :-)
The hot tub hat to be tested as well - more than once!
Oh yes, and we did some shopping too...


And then for 3 days Sascha and I rented a car and we went to Los Angeles!

We had a really great time there, we did a lot, had great weather and had fun! We stayed in Santa Monica, almost at the beach, walked along the beach to Venice Beach, visited Hollywood, had a driving tour through Beverly Hilly, walked between the skyscrapers in downtown L.A. and also drove down to Huntington Beach. On our way back we experienced Orange County as well - really really green and hilly and beautiful!

Unfortunately, as always, time went by way too fast and soon came our last night (where we had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe which by now has become tradition) and 2 weeks in sunny Phoenix with Jean, Dan, Rafe and Eric were over :-(

Sascha then went back to cold and rainy Germany.
Anika headed for cold and sunny Philadelphia.

- So to say the second leg of my trip.
And I had such a great time! It was hard to believe that it had been 4 years that I hadn't seen everyone! Of course, the kids had grown, but apart from that it was just like being part of the Penrose family again - it was wonderful! Thank you!

I enjoyed the Spa a lot - and German guests were free! :-)

I had a wonderful Sunday where almost everyone gathered at Judy&Ned's house to have a good time. I also enjoyed staying Narberth! Grandmom and Grandad took me to the Constitution Center in Philly which I - being really interested in history - enjoyed a lot. We also had great dinners where Memar and Uncle Bill also joined us.

One afternoon I visited the Krulaks in Wilmington. I had fun exploring their cute home and the large grounds! And we went to Longwood Gardens and had a good time there.

Laurie joined us for dinner - I loved to see her again!

On his birthday Ned took a day off - and still went to work! He gave me a tour of the Philadelphia Inquirer printing house - it was really interesting!
I also went to Downtown Philly - Josepha took me to great places there. We went to her brother's art gallery, just walked around to see great buildings (I love those tall skyscrapers! ;-) ) and had lunch at Reading Terminal Market.

And then the highlight was coming up: For the weekend we went down to the shore! Judy and I (unfortunately Ned couldn't come) stayed at Bob&Josepha's, and Grandmom, Grandad and Memar also came down and they stayed at a B&B in Avalon.

Friday was a sunny, mild day and we enjoyed sitting at the porch on Hagen Road. Saturday then should become our great Avalon-Wildwoods-Cape May Point Discovery Day - and it was raining hard when we woke up in the morning :-( Fortunately it eased up a little and we braved the weather - and still had a wonderful day!

We started at the Monstrosity - how I loved being back there! And I promise myself, one day I will come back in Summer... can't wait! :-)

Of course I also had to go to the beach - it was cold and windy, but there it was, the Atlantic Ocean. Less then 2 weeks after I was standing at the Pacific Coast! :-)

Passing Wildwoods we went South to Cape May, and after lunch at the Lobster House we (well, most of us) climbed the Cape May lighthouse. Even though we couldn't see too far it was great! :-)

(See that: it's Grandad IN a photo - not taking it! :-) )

Another brilliant dinner - I forget the name of the restaurant, but it was some Native American name, and it was right next to a bridge which you're not allowed to use anymore - concluded that day at the shore.
Sunday Judy then took me to North Jersey (after having explored the "wonders of South Jersey", how Maeve kindly put it ;-)) to Montclair, where I stayed with Maeve for the last 2 days before going to New York. Sunday night Amanda came over from Ramapoo and we had a great time together!

I really enjoyed staying with Maeve! I even went to class with her - and I fell in love with American universities again - they all have those neat campusses! (I don't know if that's a word.) She also took me around the town a bit, and we had much fun. I even got the "real" dorm experience with a fire alarm at 12:10 a.m. (of course just some jerk didn't know how to cook properly or something like that) Maeve also practiced her German a little bit :-) It was sad that I had to leave Tuesday night - I could have stayed there for another week or two! :-) The next time we will meet in Germany - Maeve plans on visiting me some time "soon"!
So, Tuesday at 7 p.m. I took the train to NYC - to the third leg of my trip - and the actual reason for me being in the U.S.

There it is: my final destination - viewed from Montclair Campus.

(You can enlarge the pictures when you click on them!)