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! :-)
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