I only realised at the opening ceremony, when the extremely formal (i.e. always reading prepared speeches for want of a shred of charisma) Secretary General welcomed us to the "2011 Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Convention" which ran from Sunday the 10th of July to Saturday the 16th.
The fact that it was essentially 5 days of make-believe debate; that it makes me a huge nerd; that I had to spend a week in sub-zero Canberra; that I couldn't see Harry Potter 7 Part 2 on opening night; that I had to miss two games of soccer; or that it cost a nice bundle of money had no bearing on the fact that I think it was a really great experience.
I met a bunch of interesting people; I got a better understanding of how the UN works; I drank and went out every night (which is well documented on facebook and henceforth does not feature here, I didn't take any photos of that anyway having not brought a flashcamera with me); I had a really great Thursday night with my girlfriend Simran who came down to visit me and Nikita and Esha and others; I have a really sweet suit I can wear for the next; I even have a better understanding of Canberra, the city all DFAT-aspirants secretly dread (and I did decide that I would never be able to live there for any long period of time and even then I'd need a great support network to keep me interested and sane - I can't imagine playing park soccer there with a great circle of mates - either that or be a bachelor and rely on individual sports to keep fit).
The typical day went like this: wake up at about 7:45 to get ready to leave at about 8:40 to get to ANU by 9; session from 9-12; lunch 12-1; session 1-5; go home, get out of the suit, relax a bit, have a shower, start pre-drinking (instant relief); 7:30-8ish go out for dinner and more drinks; anywhere between 1-3, finally in bed.
I was Argentina in the 4th General Assembly. We covered the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping operations and the regulation of depleted uranium weapons in conventional warfare.
One great moment was when Belgium said to the United States during unmoderated caucus that even though he was older and had a PhD that didn't give him any license to speak to everyone else as if he were above them, that we were at a university-level Model UN and he should cool his jets.
I think there're like all these skills I missed out on developing from not doing debating during school. I have distilled the formula down to: listen to what your opponent is saying, find at least one weakness in it and turn it into points that uncover these weaknesses to everyone else. Also, I guess you don't look mention any pitfalls to your propositions, you just say them and say why they're the best.
0 comments:
Post a Comment