It's time to head back to the MUN scene! This time it is FairMUN, last year it was my third MUN of the year and now this is the final journey. I was late for the first day as I had internship briefing on campus. When I arrived at Fairview International School, the registration hall was empty, I guessed all the delegates were in the hall waiting for the opening ceremony.
I was escorted by one of the secretariats. I came out from the lift and I was greeted by Aliff! He gave me a big hug, "Hi Katelyn, it's been a year since I saw you!" he said. The hall had changed so much! The last time I came was just an empty hall and a few chairs, now it transformed into an auditorium! Delegates were seated at the top, while the chairs, admins and the FairMUN team were in front. Before the opening ceremony began, I took a picture with the big screen behind me.
Once all the delegates settled down, the emcees came on the stage to greet everyone a warm welcome, followed by a welcoming speech by Dr Vincent Tan, the principal of Fairview International School. After a few talks from invited keynote speakers, it's time to head to our respective councils. Surprisingly, most of the councils were located on the same floor as the hall.
An ice-breaking session in the Press Corps to ease the atmosphere. When it's my turn to introduce myself, I briefly told my fellow journalists what my news agency, The Star, was about. There were eight to nine councils, so each of us had to choose which council that we wanted to go and observe all the actions.
I chose none other than ECOSOC, cause that was the council I was in last year's FairMUN. I was given the green light by the admins of the council, "Delegates, we have the journalist of The Star from Press Corps," Tuck and Gordon, the chair and co-chair of the council informed the delegates. I was given a chair and table to write all my juicy news and took pictures which will be sent to the live updates via a WhatsApp group chat.
I was interviewing the delegates in ECOSOC on the topics they were discussing, Ahnaf, the chair of Press Crops, dropped by to check on our progress at our chosen council. In mid-interview, there was a power cut out, but after that everything was just fine.
We were summoned back to our office and give an update of our progress. That's the end of the first day! As I was heading to the lift, I bumped into Chia Yong, my Melaka MUN buddy, and Ernest (the Sherlock Holmes of MUN) while passing by IAEA council, I gave both of them a big hug.
On the second day, I was switched to the United Nations Human Rights (UNHRC). The council was located on the second floor and it's in the library. The delegates of Canada and Iran were debating at the moment, so I "sneaked" my way in. I was writing all the important points, suddenly I got a note from the delegate of Iran that he would like to have an interview. Wow, that was a first! I did ask the chairs for some delegates to have an interview with. Not long after, it's time to head back to office cause a model press conference was about to take place.
The first two councils were UNODC and UNWTO. For UNWTO, I asked the delegate of North Korea how is he and the delegate of South Korea were going to implement SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, in both countries and really cracked the journalists up during their mini-debate time. When it's IAEA's turn to have the press conference, somehow Chia Yong sneaked in and posed as the journalists of The Guardian. And I got a shot of my co-chair, Caylene, was giving the "real" look to Chia Yong.
It's dinner time, after all, three conferences that were held today, sure made my tummy hungry! We were at the table talking about the actions that happened in our respective council today. After dinner, we headed to the basketball to have some pictures before socials. The school's official photographer also came in to take our pictures as well. Gabriel and I had one-on-one BFF movie time watching Spiderman: Into the Verse.
I came out from the party room, cause the movie was buffering due to low Internet connection. One of the secretariats Ryan, asked me "Did you enjoy the party?" I said "Yes, yes I did!" my shoe came off, I had a Cinderella moment when he helped to put my shoe back on. The moment was caught on camera! For the first time ever, I partied all my heart out! Usually, I would sit in the corner and chilled out. I left the party early because I had to write up some "breaking news" on the councils I visited today.
On the third and final day, the last three councils came into our office for the press conference which was EU, DISEC and UNHRC. Especially the delegate of Iran in UNHRC, he kinda spiced up our office after the Q & A session, that's when the delegates from each council up can "fire" at each other. It was fun to watch!
After the last press conference, it's a MUN tradition for delegates to go around the office to have their signatures signed on each other's plaque cards. While waiting for the closing ceremony, we played a game of Kahoot! which tested our general knowledge and national flags from all over the world, cause when you're in Model United Nations, you have to know these as a basic.
I headed over to ECOSOC where it was opposite of the Press Crops office, I signed the delegates' plaque cards from other councils and I got a candid shot of picture from Sharlize on my phone. Not long after we were given the green light for the closing ceremony. This is it! The final journey of MUN is about to begin. The IT crew presented video highlights throughout the three days as well as photos. The best of all, I got a verbal mention!
My MUN journey had finally come to an end, I'm gonna miss all my friends who I met throughout the MUN career. That doesn't mean I'm going to be completely cut off from the scene, but I'm going to involve in UN activities.
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