This past weekend was definitely a lot of fun and very fruitful! OxIMUN and England were beyond my expectations in many ways from the beginning to the end.
So… here it goes
I woke up at 6:00 am on Thursday, October 29, to do final packing. Before leaving I left a note to Francesco, because he was moving back to Sicily this weekend while I was gone. Just when I was leaving, my new roommate Iguer was going to work too! So we left the house together, but eventually went our separate ways :P
I got to the airport at around 8:30, with about 2 hours to spare. I waited for Ryanair counter to call for my flight in order to check in. Just when it said “London” I went to the counter, but when I got there, the representative told me that it was not my flight, but rather a flight an hour earlier, so I had to wait for the counter next to it to open in order to check in. And it was about another 45 minutes… I personally find that very weird because in Taiwan and Canada, you could check in early than the counter indicates.
Anyway…………..
After dropping my bags off, I had to go to another Ryanair counter to check my passport and visa. While I was in line, I saw a lot of EU passport holders paying a fee. Like, OMG, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON??? BRIBERY? OR THOSE MYSTERIOUS FEE??? Stay calm, stay calm, I told myself, remember you are a citizen of a former British colony; everything will be fine. And things were fine. The representative kind of asked me where and how I got in to Valencia, and why I was going to London, and then she validated my ticket.
I waited for the flight for a while, and we boarded, we had to WALK for like 150 meters to board the plane. Ryanair is really interesting. There are no assigned seats; just grab whichever you’d like. And the interior is very simple, yet a lot of people choose it because of its prices
So yea, moving along…
I got to London Stansted Airport around 12:30 pm, went to the ticket station to purchase a ticket to Oxford, and then called my mom to update her that I’m safe. Later I got on to the bus, and the road to Oxford was beautiful yet LONGGGGGGGGG. The English country side is absolutely gorgeous! Very relaxing. However, the route was filled with lots of small narrow country roads that I thought we were lost! And I noticed that I was experiencing jetlag/culture shock because the set at 5:00 pm, whereas I have been used to the sun setting at 7:30 in Spain and getting really dark at 8:30, which is time for dinner. I really felt like sleeping and was feeling hungry… And plus, a lot of towns we passed by were dark, as if it were early morning in Spain.
But nevertheless, I got to Oxford around 6:00 pm. Walked to the hostel and immediately unpacked and took a shower. Just as I came out of the shower, 2 Dutch guys, Bobby and Geert-Jan, had moved in. Both of them had attended WorldMUN in The Hague as assistant directors. It was really nice to see people that I have in common! Later 3 other guys moved in; they were from England, but one of them (Eduardo) actually had lived in Canada for a while! OMG A FELLOW CANADIAN!!! :D He had lived in Toronto too, and still visits it occasionally.
I was really tired so I fell asleep while the guys unpacked. The next morning I woke up early to have breakfast. Very very delicious breakfast! Lots and lots of variety, LOL! Before registration started, I gave myself a little discovery tour of Oxford. The city is indeed very very beautiful. All the streets are filled with antique buildings like living in the medieval times! And the colleges of the university are absolutely surreal.
When registration came, I got to meet quite a few people, such as the delegation from 人民大學 in Beijing. I also met Astrid again, whom I first met in my committee in WorldMUN. She was in WHO while I was in DISEC, so she introduced me to her 3 other delegates, Anne (Haiti), Quinten (Bangladesh), Christof (China). It was definitely great to meet people before committee sessions started.
I later did the guided tour of Oxford by Oxford students, and it was really informative, although unfortunately we couldn’t enter in to a lot of colleges or buildings. And while on the tour, I met Pedro from Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona! We were pretty much the only students from Spanish universities, and it was kind of funny for me to speak Spanish in an English-speaking country :P
Later came the opening ceremony. It was really good! The conference invited an important speaker on the reform of the UN, such as Security Council membership, peacekeeping structure, etc. And there was a long Q&A after the speech. Afterwards we went to our first committee session. Committees were in different college buildings scattered across Oxford, so if your college was far from the hostel…. Good luck walking. But before that, I spotted the West Point delegation, and I introduced myself to one of them, Woo, who happened to be talking about WorldMUN, and I told him whom I knew in West Point MUN. He was really really friendly and genuine too!
There were about 60 people in the committee session, and I got to know quite a number of people. And of course, there was a West Point delegate, Jake, who, obviously, knew the West Point MUN people I know too! When the debate opened, everyone was almost talking about nuclear weapons and non-proliferation. Like, honestly, can we not??? So boring! When it was my turn, I urged everyone to talk about peacekeeping. But unfortunately I couldn’t convince everyone, and the committee voted for the discussion of nuclear weapons and non proliferation =______=
The remaining of the committee session was long, and the rooms were so horribly ventilated! I frankly felt like suffocating… But anyway we finally ended at 6:30 pm! At 8:00 pm was the Global Village, and it was great to know the students a lot better. Different delegations/schools set up tables with food or items that represent their home country or the country representing. Astrid and her Belgian MUN team did Chinese food, since they were representing China. They bought 麻糬 and 皮蛋, without ever trying it before. No one liked 皮蛋, and I was really disappointed! They bought 愛之味 green tea and prune tea, and OMG it was great to taste food from home! There were Greek students that brought authentic Greek desserts and it was orgasmic! And West Point guys, like OMG, bought burgers from the McDonald’s next door, and had tea bags to represent the Boston Tea Party =_______= Way to be creative….
So that was the first day.
On the second day of committee, I woke up to meet with other delegates (well, really just the Belgians: Anne, Quinten, Christophe) an hour before committee session started to discuss working papers. We had really good ideas, and so it was a good step! Throughout the morning debate, it was INTENSE. So many working papers being introduced and many countries were really right at each other, like Iran and Israel. Almost everyone were leaning on to one resolution written by the Belgians, until Jake mysteriously presented a very detailed and unique working that was so different from what everyone had discussed. West Point people just never fail to impress. But a lot of people just didn’t understand the intent of the working paper, and just kind of attacked it…
But thank goodness we took a lunch break.
When we came back everyone was dead TIREDDDDDDDDDDDD. The debates were slowwwwww and dryyyyyy, like everyone just wanted to take a siesta! I felt everyone pretty much had agreed upon everything in the morning, and there was no point in talking more… just waiting for resolutions.
And sooner or later we called it day, and got ready for committee dinner and Halloween party!
We went to a very nice Italian restaurant, and we got to know each other a lot more in a relaxed setting through lots and lots of random discussions :P I later went back to change for my Halloween costume, which was the jersey of CF Valencia, since their colours were black and orange, and mascot was a bat. When I got to the club, I felt kind of stupid because one thing, I was one of the few that dressed up, and another thing because of the colours I was really visible that people kept looking at me. The club was really (and unsurprisingly) small. I had to squeeze myself through the hallway, and it had bad ventilation so it was ridiculously humid with human heat. BLEHHH.
So I left. Pretty early.
I woke up yet again to meet up with people to finalize a draft resolution. It turned out the two dominant working papers (Belgian’s and Jake’s) emerged to become the one and only resolution in the committee, which I have never ever seen before in my life! But it’s good, cause it made things a lot easier. We discussed, debated, amended, and PASSED it! It’s really the first time a resolution I supported got passed!
But that wasn’t enough, because we still have to present it to the General Assembly, and that’s when it’s really passed or not. I find it interesting how this conference used this method for simulation.
But it was really a hassle and unnecessary.
There were too many people, and people were pretty much repeating the same thing as repeated in our committee. And there were 2 other committees too, so it took a long time…………
But eventually we passed all resolutions and it was closing ceremony!
And it was looooooooooooooooooooooong as there were a lot of thanks to give and awards to give in many committees
When they were announcing the award recipients for DISEC, I was really looking forward to it as I had an idea who would be the recipients. There were two categories: Honourable mention and best delegate.
“The first honourable mention goes to…
Oliver Shen representing Malaysia”
Like… OMG! When I heard it I froze in my seat! It actually took me 10 seconds to realize it, and I had to stand up so everyone could see me. As I stood, some other delegates were cheering for me as I was still in awe and surprise of my prize.
Really, I wouldn’t have ever thought. First time going to England, to Oxford, to my first MUN conference of the academic year, and then winning an award… Unreal. So reassuring. So grateful. So content.
I never aim to be the best in these conferences because I feel that if you do you might miss out some of the fun as some people chose not to go to parties or committee dinners and just write resolutions.
It really made my trip so meaningful, especially in such a great academic location! Before coming to Oxford, I was a bit doubtful and hesitant about coming, such as feeling isolated and alone and unprepared, and in addition, feeling of being behind work after the conference. But now, it doesn’t matter anymore. I met so many great friends, whom I’ll be seeing again in London and WorldMUN, learned so much, grew so much, and plus, won an award!
It’s been pretty much a week, and the feeling of content, satisfaction, joy and peace is still present.
I’m just so happy that I went back to my comfort zone again. It was what I really needed.
And now I’m looking forward to Bonn, Germany!
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