Reflection

Interacting with more than hundreds of delegates from different countries was undoubtedly one of the best experiences I've ever had. The best part of this MUN was meeting Harvard graduates. They were the ones who chaired all committees. They also shared their experience in Harvard and gave us a brief introduction about the university and talked about their personal opinions. The highest level of exposure is when you meet a lot of people from diverse backgrounds, different countries and various cultures at the same place. HMUN created that amazing opportunity for us. It was definitely a privilege to be a part of this conference for four continuous days. Every committee session was a new lesson for me. It was challenging to keep up to the other delegates' levels while talking and lobbying. However, the knowledge I gained is what matters. Now, I know how to carry myself confidently while speaking on the dais. I also know how to research and prepare prior to the conference. Moreover, every other delegate in my committee room taught me how to behave diplomatically at every point of time, whether it is hard core debate or just lobbying. One more thing I noticed many times was that most of the delegates didn't look into any paper while talking. Some of them had a small paper in hand which they looked into hardly twice while speaking. That showed me how thorough they were with the information. They didn't struggle or stammer even a single time. The absence of inhibitions in their speeches taught me new lessons too. Though they were experienced in MUNing, they made sure to give us, the beginners, a chance to talk in every unmoderated caucus. My chair, Bennett Vogt, helped us through out the sessions too. I can feel the increase in confidence levels inside me now. This journey has definitely made me a better communicator and more knowledgeable.

Journal 9.4 : Falling into the right place

This class, we tried bringing the postures to perfection. It was quite a challenge to accomplish. However, I performed one posture perfectly, in which I had to criss cross my legs, tie my hands behind my back and bend forward to touch the floor with my head. It makes me feel confident. Moreover, it makes me want to bring every other posture to perfection too.

Duration : 1 hour

Journal 11.8 : Final day!

We only had one committee session today, for 2.5 hours. We voted on the amendments made yesterday and a few more new ones, after discussing them in moderated caucuses. Few of the amendments included deleting entire clauses, while the others were just adding more terms to existing clauses to specify them. We then came to voting on both resolutions. Unfortunately, the opposite side's resolution got passed. Most of them supported the recognition of territorial claims as they as countries didn't want to to give up their territorial rights just to work in unity with every other country. Well, what matters is that we got a resolution passed. We then motioned for an entertainment session for the last 15 minutes. We took pictures after that and then went to the closing ceremony. The delegate of Guatamala won the best delegate. He definitely deserved the award for his excellent communicating skills. Though i didn't manage to win an award, I'm happy to carry the experience i earned, back home.

Duration : 3 hours

Journal 5.6 : Time to add fertilizers

Today we, added a handful of fertilizer to each plant just like we did last month. We also moved some of the plants back to the bridge where the plants are directly exposed to sunlight for 2 days. We have to make sure to take them back to the cabins so that they don't begin showing poor growth.

Journal 11.7 : Third is a charm

Today, we worked with our bloc countries and started forming draft resolutions. The number of unmoderated caucuses exceeded moderated caucuses today as we needed to do a lot of lobbying to get people to join our bloc. We had to convince people by proving that eliminating territorial claims would be more beneficial for Antarctica. We spent most of our time framing draft resolutions and discussing them in moderated caucuses today. We had the most number of committee sessions today. So it did get a little boring in the middle. However, it was a productive day overall. At the end of the last committee session today, we started making amendments to our resolution  after the presentation and question-answer session for each of the resolutions.
After dinner, we had the delegate dance! We went crazy dancing continuously for 2 hours.

Duration : 9 hours

Jounral 11.6 : Second day!

We had two committee session today, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We discussed territorial claims, bio prospecting, gender inequalities and military. We began forming blocs within the committee as some were for recognizing territorial claims and some were completely against recognizing territorial claims. The delegate of Canada initiated one bloc which i was of a part of and the delegate of U.S.A formed another bloc. We had many unmoderated caucuses today which we formed working papers in. Most of the delegates in my committee were well prepared and highly experienced. Hence, it was quite a challenge to stand up to that level while debating and lobbying. I still tried my best. Our chair asked us to submit our position papers again with citations. So I added the citations and sent it again to my chair. After the committee sessions, we had this leadership forum organized by the Flames university. Great speakers like Vikas Swaroop, the author of the book Q&A, which the movie Slumdog millionaire was adopted from and the vice president of Coca cola. Their speeches were so inspirational.
Later, we attended the HMUN India has got Talent show. Delegates ca
me on to stage an performed graceful dances and breathtaking songs.

Duration : 8 hours

Journal 11.5 : First day!

We departed from Coimbatore at 7.50 a.m and landed at Hyderabad at 9.30 a.m. The HMUN team provided transport to go to the hotel from the airport. We immediately got ready and left to the HICC (the venue of the conference). We ate lunch and then attended a session in which a few directors gave a summary of the rules of procedure. After that, we went to the opening ceremony. The director general ad secretary general gave short speeches and welcomes us all to the four day conference. There was an opening classical dance, which happens every time at the beginning of HMUN as a tradition. A few officials then lit the lamp. Finally, the director general announced the conference officially open. An hour later, we went to our first committee session. Our director, Bennett Vogt introduced himself to us and then gave us a brief introduction on the committee agenda. We then moved into the general speakers list. I decided not to speak for the first day, so that i could just listen to other people and get a clear idea of the proceedings. However, after listening to everybody, I felt like speaking as well. So i gave a short speech in the moderated caucus on the topic Bio-prospecting. Our chair wasn't in favor for any unmoderated caucus. So I couldn't lobby with other delegates. The committee session was for 2 and a half hours. Later, we went to eat dinner. That time, I talked to other delegates in the committee and made friends with them.

Duration : 4 hours 

Journal 11.4 : All set to leave!

I did my last minute research today. I went through my position paper to check if everything was fine and then researched a little bit more on the guiding questions given in the background guide. Those involved territorial claims, tourism, illegal fishing and whaling, military, gender inequality and sea bed claims. Learning more about these subtopics helped me make a framework of the agenda. I also had a few ideas for moderated caucus topics. After making our research binders, we began getting ready to leave. We took copies of our passports, and school id cards. Our teachers Mr.Rolf and Ms. Elizabeth informed us on what to bring for the four day trip. Now we're all set to leave!

Duration : 6 hours

Reflection: Aerobics for the first time!

These 3 hours of aerobics was fun! Though it was tiring, it was fun to move along with the beats of the song. We learned different steps which involved twisting our body, touching our feet, a few dance steps and kicking. We performed the steps again and again till they synchronized with the beats of the music played. This CAS experience showed me my flexibility levels, endurance, stamina and how long I could sustain in one particular position. In fact, I want to continue doing aerobics because it makes me feel more energetic and confident! Somehow, it seems to be a stress buster too. It completely diverted me from all the thoughts of school work! All I did was focusing on the steps and making sure of going along with the beats of the music.

The effort you put into aerobics, especially when performing with a group of people, requires a lot of concentration and dedication. In turn, it takes everything off your mind. This activity has definitely made me a risk taker and also a balanced person. Balanced; in the sense that I’ve learned to maintain physical and emotional balance through aerobics.

I have to admit, it was exhausting in the first half an hour since it was the very first time doing aerobics for me. But my coach did not let me give up, and neither did he let me go take a sip of water. He told us that it isn’t advisable to drink water in between any strenuous exercise and that you should drink water only after at least 10 minutes. I always used to drink water immediately after any work out, so this was an important learning outcome for me from this CAS experience.

 

Journal 5.5 : The unexpected...

The plant allotted to me, Alovera, showed very poor growth for the past few days and finally stopped growing at all. This was probably due to over watering or exposure under direct sunlight for too long. It could have been a consequence of using the wrong type of soil as well. The other plant allotted to me, the boston fern is in good condition. 

Journal 9.3 : Getting used to it...

I had to stretch even more today. But the best part was that I actually did it. I had to make an angular posture with my hands on the floor, my body in the shape of a right angle and my feet on the ground with my heels touching the floor completely. I could honestly feel a tight pull in my calf muscles. He then gave me an eye exercise to enhance vision. It felt so soothing to move my eyeballs too all ends. Also, he taught me an asana to increase concentration and brain focus.

Duration : 1 hour

Reflection

Setting up a food stall was pretty easy this time because we have experience in this field. Thinking of menus, talking to the departments at school, getting permission for certain things and buying the items that school could provide happened in an organized way this time. We tried making new items that none of our seniors or friends have done in the previous food stalls, like coke float and oreo treats. Trying these new things made us a little of risk takers, considering that we didn't know whether the customers would like the taste of it. Also, we had too many people in the stall this time, which made it a little chaotic at certain times. When there was heavy rush before lunch time, too many of us were working in that small area. So it was hard to keep things organized on top of the big crowd. Towards the evening, some of the members left the stall to take care of other things. Again, it was hard to manage the stall with very few people. Had it only been the correct number of people who stayed in the stall all the time, would the stall have been more efficient. However, everything was a lesson. We learned to come up with quick solutions when ever a small problem arose. We learned how to be spontaneous and shrewd at all times. Counting the cash at the end also improved our skills. This experience had made me more of a responsible and a principled person. When my friends took a break for lunch, I had to take charge for the cash counter and that's when I understood how difficult that job could be. A second step in the a field we've already practiced in, has developed the skills of being responsible, creative and principled, that we acquired last time.