Journal 16.3: Only more work, yet more fun

 Making the ID cards for all delegates and inviting schools over the phone took a tremendous amount of time each day. We had to decide the colour of the ties and design the format of the tags.

Today was a big day for the SIMUN team since we went to the police department to invite the IPS officer to be our chief guest of the opening ceremony.

One of my favourite segments of this journey was meeting the Erode TIPS campus students in their school to give them an introductory session of MUNing. Teaching them the basics of an MUN taught me how much I know. Furthermore, the questions they asked helped us share our knowledge that we’ve gained from our previous MUNs. Beyond the crux of the session, what mattered was how we bonded instantly with all students from 6^th grade to 11^th grade.

Reflection: Controlling the mind body and soul

I’m glad I chose to learn yoga as one of my long term activities for CAS. This definitely is not the end of this experience since I’ve learned how Yoga can keep me calm throughout the day regardless of the stress and frustration that hits me. The explanation behind each and every posture that I have learned from my teacher has made me a reflective person.

Understanding the benefits of the posture has helped me work towards self-development. Usually, most of us work out or exercise without knowing the reasons behind them. But a sophisticated understanding of them has created a passion in me for Yoga. Practice sessions everyday first thing in the morning have helped me take control over myself mentally and physically.  I strongly believe that such control is essential in life for well-being, especially during stressful times including IB deadlines.

Of course, a lot of postures were difficult to perform in the beginning since I had not stretched and flexed those muscles before. However, with a little bit of practice, I could feel the soothing pain! As I became more flexible, I was able to feel a new energy within. That’s what helped me gain complete control.

 I have always been confused when people asked me to listen to my heart or my mind during critical situations. I only understood the nuance of those statements after learning yoga. This may not be crystal clear in words, as “actions always speak more than words”. But I will still try my best to put forward what I feel! Simply taking everything off your mind helps you remain calm. This is exactly what Yoga helps you do!

Journal 16.2 : Working further

This month was filled with most of the preparatory work including giving all delegates their countries in each committee according to their experience levels. For instance, students who have more than 2 MUN experiences were given countries that have critical stances in the committee so that they can handle the situation diplomatically. However, the freshers with other countries stand an equal chance of winning the debate as well. After all, it depends on how you can defend your points in the dias regardless of how tedious the situation grows. We also decided the menu for the 4 day program with a variety of cuisines. Fortunately, the canteen at our school agreed to make most of the dishes we asked for.  The tremendous support from the school made the organization much easier for us. Jhansi ma’am, the hostel coordinator took the responsibility of allotting rooms for all the students who opted to stay at school. Also, Mr. Devadunai, the safety officer ensured that all the transport facilities were arranged for the students of Coimbatore. Our Deputy Director General took care of inviting the singer – Abhay Jothputkar, and the DJ for the evening events of the conference.

Reflection

Exactly one year ago, we had our first CAS experience in which we performed in front of the entire school. We has hand exercised and some of us did yoga postures as well. It's been an exuberant journey this year. In my opinion, we got an opportunity to visit every colour of the rainbow by being exposed to a versatile bunch of CAS experiences.
         I feel like a completely different person right now after being a part of different experiences including MUNing, food stall services, foreign exchange programs and fun activities like face painting as well. In fact, I think I've just discovered myself.
         This activity especially has been a special one for us since this whole program stands as a huge inspiration. We had the big opportunity to honour the first 45 scorer of our school. Being his schoolmates and his best friends, we marched around the field with more pride than ever. Most importantly, the words in his speech, "People say patience is a virtue, but I think impatience is a virtue" directly struck my mind. I learned that a simple way to reach your destiny is to be impatient to achieve your goals.
        This activity gave me the energy to begin working even harder to reach my goal. I honestly think listening to your own friend can inspire you more than any other speech from famous personalities. Saluting our Indian flag and the top scorers of the IB examination of November 2016 at the same time was a big fortune for the whole of our batch. Every second of the march past was a definitely moment to cherish!
        We learned how to work in coordination for the march past. This strengthened the bond that we the students of the DP batch 2016-2017 share since we helped each other come back in to coordination when one of us missed a step. This short journey will stand as one of my best memories forever!

Journal 15.5: Republic day

Today was the grand event. We celebrated republic day one day earlier since the 26th is a national holiday. As the chief guests entered the arena, each of us saluted Nishanth, who was the only candidate in India to score 45 in the November 2016 examinations, Mithin who got an extremely high score of 44, and their parents. Once they were escorted to their seats, the program began. The juniors hosted the program and the little kids performed patriotic dances and and sang patriotic songs. Mithin was called up forward to hoist the flag, after which we all saluted the Indian flag. Later, Nishanth was made to stand next to the flag and we performed the march past to salut him for his tremendous achievement, and also to carry the pride for this achievement as we all belong to the sam family : TIPS. Thankfully, the entire batch completed the march past without any noticeable mistakes. In fact, our trainers and teachers appreciated us for having done a perfect march past coordinatively with the band as well. Before the program came to an end, Nishanth gave a an inspiring speech. He said “impatience is a virtue” which actually struck a cord in my mind. He said that impatience is the key to learning. He also mentioned that the score he achieved was because of the shoulders he stood on, including his family, the entire teach faculty and his friends. I had goose bumps till the end of the speech. That’s how inspiring it was!