Admission

Harry’s Project Period - Philadelphia Model United Nations Conference 2008

Memorable incidents: staying at a hostel, not a hotel; stuffing my stomach with Philly cheese-steaks as much (maybe too much) as I desired; sitting in the committee meeting room around at 10:00 p.m. with sugar-low (and half-sleeping) cerebrum; waiting a tour guide’s bus for an hour in the winter of Philadelphia with my never-warm-enough sweatshirt; no sleeping at all during long airborne operations (or, simply, plane flights between Phoenix and Philadelphia); walking daringly around Philadelphia with my lovely flip-flops in spite of winter’s biting coldness; discussing a working paper for a resolution with somewhat laid-back attitude at the near end of the conference (not recommended); and something that I cannot somehow recall, etc, etc.


During the project period, I was one of privileged members to go to the conference at Philadelphia under a project called Model United Nations, outside of school. The conference forced the delegates including me to stay out of the school and sleep in Philadelphia because we cannot possibly commute between the school and Philadelphia daily. Moreover, we did not have any more projects to do due to the fact that we would not be in the school. So, the project was this: experiencing historical sites in Philadelphia and participation of the conference.


The project was great. I did enjoy looking at the historical sites such as the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall. In addition, I liked the city itself. I liked the fact that there were numerous and large parks for citizens to enjoy, and sculptures, decorating the city appropriately. The city was not a typically urban, busy, messy city at all. The city had a very distinct ambience from other cities which I have visited, yet it was mysteriously attractive.


After several days of sight-seeing around Philadelphia, the conference started. The conference dealt specifically with Latin American issues. I was in Development Programme, a committee that dealt with gender inequality in economy and basic education. Rachael and I represented Australia, which was an awkward position to fully engage in the discussions of Latin American problems; but we managed to express our opinions and concerns over the topics forthrightly. We often had heated discussions with other delegates about the means of approaching problems and level of efficacy of various solutions. We collaborated a resolution, emphasizing the importance of education in resolving the Latin America’s deep-rooted gender disparity in economy; the resolution eventually passed. The conference, however, was somewhat tiresome. Each session lasted for 3 hours, and each day held average 2 or 3 sessions with 4 hours of lunch and dinner times. For instance, a typical day started around 9:00 a.m., and ended around 11:00 p.m.


Although the conference’s routine was dull, the conference itself was rewarding. I refreshed my memory and experience at the conference of UCLA, and I fully grasped what the conference was all about. I made many mistakes throughout the conference, but these mistakes became my valuable instructions for gearing my brain toward formal debates in the future.