On the 7th of February, my two schoolmates and I, along with our teacher, Allan, went off to Boston, Massachusetts for the MITMUNC conference held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We were representing both Ealing Independent College students and also as a school from London. It was the first international Model United Nations conference with students attending from various States of the US, China, Mexico and England. I was given two topics, North Korea and the disarmament of its weapons and Cybersecurity. We were assigned to represent and speak on behalf of the country of Myanmar in the Disarmament Committee of the UN regarding these topics.  

I had spent many hours preparing position papers for both topics as a delegate from Myanmar and it paid off when I gave my opening statement about the issues discussed. The first day of the conference was fast-paced, as many of the delegates had already participated in previous editions of the conference but the Chairpersons in charge of my committee helped explain the sessions and the rules. I learnt quickly and did my best to contribute to the sessions to the best of my ability.  Furthermore, I managed to make a few allies that agreed to my statements and got to interact with them as the session continued. 

The second day of the conference was much more interesting as there had been an “overnight crisis” that caused an overseas territory linked to the US to be blown up and the UN needed an immediate response of action from my committee. We had a task to make a resolution to resolve the issue. I was surprised at how the room constantly had an atmosphere of tension and every action taken was significant and consequential.  

Finally, we attended the final day of the conference and I would say that the best memory of the conference that I have, was when the resolution my allies and I had come up with for the first topic passed through to the UN. My committee had only managed to complete the discussion for one topic and due to the lack of time, we did not proceed onto the second topic of Cybersecurity. However, we did come up with an impromptu crisis on another committee where a delegate was “assassinated” and Russia had caused a cyberattack on the US causing its nuclear weapons to go off and annihilate the entire country! The other committee that we colluded with initially did have a great shock when my entire committee went into their room but cooperated with us to resolve the chaos amidst their crisis of a bone virus that was spreading around the world, killing millions. At the end of the conference, I was given the title ‘Friendliest Delegate’ by my fellow delegate. After the session, I spoke to my fellow delegates for the last time and shared contact details for future meetings! This then concluded my experience at the 3-day conference.

However, there were many more unforgettable memories I have forged with 2 friends and my teacher during our entire trip. We spent many hours together travelling around the city of Boston on foot and by public transport during our free time and visited many monuments and famous streets. We also had delicious meals during the 5 days and since good food deserves to be talked about, I am sharing this with you! On our last day, Allan led us on the 2.5 mile Freedom Trail, which consists of a long red brick trail around the city that you follow to look at different historical monuments and the various districts of the city. We visited monuments like the Massachusetts State House and Bunker Hill, a narrow building with little windows and 294 stairs to reach the top. And it is important to say that we reached the top of the building and enjoyed the view of the city from its little windows!

To conclude, I enjoyed a purposeful and memorable experience to go on my first trip to the US for the MITMUNC conference and also share fun-filled memories with my friends and teacher. And if I do ever get the chance to attend a future conference, I sure will! 

Thanusree (Y12)