My Experience With MUN

Joining the MUN (Model United Nation) group in my school has been one of the defining moments in my life.

I’ve always been very shy about speaking in public, my hands would shake and my cheeks would be stained red. I would stutter and avoid eye contact with whomever I was speaking to, even if it was just a group of close friends. I didn’t like to be in the spotlight, with everyone’s eyes on me.

Having an extracurricular activity is mandatory at my school, it has always been. One year there was nothing in particular that drew my attention, and one of my best friends suggested that I join MUN with her. I agreed readily figuring out that it would not be so bad if I had someone with me, and offered her a large smile. Inside I was terrified, of course.

When the first Wednesday of the activity came by, I considered not going. But I still made my way to the class, with some paper and pencils in hand. I didn’t know what to expect, seeing as MUN was not one the most popular activities. I sat down on a desk and waited for more people to arrive.

There must have been only ten people that first day, but the teacher was happy nonetheless. Our first class was not an introduction to what MUN was, but an introduction to public speaking.  I was nervous when I stood up to introduce myself, and as I have previously said, stuttered my way through a tiny speech.

Then came the next class, and we were introduced to the world of MUN. It ended up being an activity where we pretended to be delegates from countries all around the world, where we discussed current events just like it was done in the real United Nations. I fell in love with the idea that very second. My first task was to create a Position Paper showing the UK’s position on the Libyan Crisis of 2011.

I can still remember the first conference I went to. It was in a school called Markham, and the topic was the Congo Gorillas. In retrospect it was an awful committee, the Chair (which is the person organizing the committee) did not know what he was doing, and we never got to write a Resolution (which is the whole point of going to the committee). But when I was inside the conference, I felt powerful and important, and it was a feeling that I wanted to repeat. I ended up winning Most Prepared Delegation with my partner, and we were very proud of ourselves.

As the years went by I attended many other conferences, with different topics. They ranged from Nuclear Power to Women’s Rights. I was many countries. There was Canada, Hungary, Chad, and many more.

This January I attended a conference in Harvard. Yes, you read it right, Harvard, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. As you can probably imagine, my nerves were shot the whole time I was there, and I suddenly developed an incredible case of stuttering. I am ashamed to admit that I did not participate as much as I could have, and that I only spoke once during the whole conference (which lasted around three days). But I came in contact with many cultures, and befriended people from all around the world.

When I returned home, I knew I wanted to repeat the experience I had had in Boston. I knew that I wanted to walk their windy streets again, that I wanted to have those express meetings with other delegates in the elevator, that I wanted to end up outside the hotel because I accidentally took the emergency stairs, and that I wanted to meet more interesting people from all around the world. All in all, I wanted to go back.

But I still had one more year to go, and boy was it an interesting year.

I was accepted as part of the Secretariat in my school (the group which runs MUN). This came with many responsibilities that I gladly embraced. It was our job to plan the training sessions for the new girls, it was our job to organize the conference that was to happen at our school, it was our job to get people interested in the activity. It has been amazing.

This year I finally got the courage to go to a Specialized Agency committee rather than a General Assembly one. The difference is that Specialized Agencies are much more dynamic, and you represent a character rather than a country, because of this they are harder to prepare for, and more experienced delegates participate in them. The one I took part of was of the Korean War, and I got to represent the President of South Korea. By the end, we had done the impossible and drafted a Peace Treaty, rather than a Ceasefire Agreement as had been done in the actual event.

Then came the AENU experience. AENU is an excellent group of delegates, made up of various Peruvian Universities, and is ranked as one of the Top International Delegations by Best Delegate (which is the most important web site there is on MUN out there). The stakes were high and even worse for me because I was given only one week to prepare for it, rather than the whole month all delegates had. To make it even harder, I was given an impossible topic for an impossible country, I was Afghanistan talking about Climate Change.

My first reaction was to laugh, there was no logical way that I could pull this off, there was no website belonging to the Afghan government, and if they would focus on anything it would be to improve their economy and not improve how eco-friendly they were. I was not completely wrong, but after two days of searching I had found my salvation, their 200 page national development plan. Here I found all I needed, but it was a lot to read, even if I only took the few pages I needed.

Because of that I got into a lot of trouble with my teachers. I was seen reading in every class, highlighting pages like a madwoman and mumbling to myself about earthquakes and tsunamis. But I did it, and I got my Position Paper and my Opening Speech done in time.

The three days we had to participate in the conference were intense, I won’t lie. But it was all worth it, because in the end I was awarded the Best Delegate award. It was one of the moments I’m proudest of, and I was even offered to join the AENU group (but I had to decline, seeing as I still have two more years of school and it is only for university students).

As part of the Secretariat, I also needed to organize a committee, and my incredible brain decided to do it on time travel. Bad choice, awful decision. Despite how hopeful I was, it didn’t work out, and most delegates just spent their times doodling on their pages rather than drafting Resolutions as they were supposed to.

This January I am returning to Harvard for another conference, and I couldn’t be more excited. I have promised myself that I will participate and talk in every opportunity I get, and that I won’t let my fears and insecurities hold me back as I did last year. I am participating in a Specialized Agency conference, which dates back to the year 323 BC and deals with the conquests of Alexander the Great, I will be representing Ptolemaios.

All in all, I must say that MUN has been life-changing. It helped me get over my fear of public speaking, and it opened my eyes to the political and humanitarian side of this world that I had been unaware of before. I am completely in love with it (almost as much as I am with writing!), and will never regret the decision I took to get involved with it.