Now, I’ll be posting something that I promised you, like, centuries ago. Can you guess? Yep, my Singapore trip! :D This post will contain the first part of my trip, which is the conference or the NTU MUN itself.
As you all might know very well, in February I went to Singapore for the first time to attend Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Model United Nations (MUN), as a delegate of Luxembourg to the European Union Council. I went there with my fellow delegates from my university: Made, Marcella, Indy, Julian, and Sarah. Here goes the first piece of my trip! (;
February 10th, 2012
Taking off to Singapore from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. It was really early in the morning when we got to the airport, and I felt all nervous (yeah, I’m a nervous flyer). BUT, how lovely it was – our flight got delayed! From our due time 07.05 a.m., to like 09.00 something (forgot the exact time). I was like, seriously??? hhas We were really worried that we’d be really late and there’d be little time left for us to take breath and grab lunch there before we head to NTU. But anyway, our plane finally took off, I was holding onto my dear life (read: onto the handle of my seat), and I slept during the whole flight (in order to forget that I was flying). HAHA Silly, I know, in my 20s. And then, we landed. Singapore. For the first time in my life. hhas I was impressed! The feeling was overwhelming: finally make my step in a foreign country, by myself, because I was chosen based on what I can do :’D
We then rushed our way to Orchard, grabbed some lunch (all the way with our luggages), and rushed our way to NTU. And yeah, we got lost, and yeah, we got to the opening ceremony late. What an experience! :p
After the ceremony was over, we had dinner and started networking right away! I found some of my council fellows from European Union and started talking lightly on the issue. Seemed like it would be a pretty interesting, though tough day the next day! Today ended with a good sleep (after a good research) in an amazing suite in Nanyang Executive Center with my roomie, Marcella.
February 11th, 2012
Today was opened with breakfast – still networking – then off straight away to the conference room! The first day got really tough, even from the very beginning. My fellow council delegates were fierce! Most of them came from Singapore, India and Taiwan. Only two came from Indonesia: me, and Frida from Universitas Indonesia.
The chair and her co-chair opened the conference with a briefing and an introduction. My chair was a beautiful girl from India, and her co-chair came from Taiwan. The co-chair explained that the Eurozone crisis was his expertise since he had been doing research on it for a couple of years. Whoooo, cool! And so the conference commenced.
The conference was hot! I was happy to announce that I got a number of chances to talk, and that I was one of the writer and submitter of one of the working papers. Sure I thought to myself that I could’ve done so much better, but surprisingly, some of my fellow delegates actually came up to me and said, “You were really good and confident; I wouldn’t guess that this is your first time!” And I was soooo happy and touched to hear that. It meant a lot to me, really.
The sessions of today’s conference ended at about 06.00 pm, and we had to get ready for the Socials. The Socials was an event organized by the committee, where the participants were brought to a night club – Double O – to socialize. Those who were 18+ got two coupons for free alcoholic drinks. BUT. What a pity: I got ‘drunk’ even before I drank any. HAHA Yes, so I kinda missed the dinner that day, thinking that the pizza was only snacks and we’ll be getting dinner at the club. So instead of grabbing some pizzas, I chose to dress up and get ready for the Socials. Unfortunately, the committee said there was no more dinner. And so, le poor me got sick – screw gastritis – throwing up a few times, must be taken outside to find some food, and only spent the night sleeping in the corner. PATHETIC. See, I was ‘drunk’ even before I drank anything. Hhas But I managed to put on a happy face for some pics :p
February 12th, 2012
Conference day two, and le poor me was still feeling unwell. Despite being the only woman and Indonesian in the main writer of the Draft Resolution, and being a co-presenter of that Draft Resolution, I could only manage to speak so little that day. My head kept spinning, my stomach kept killing me, and I gotta ask for permission to go back and forth to the wash room.
the other main writers and submitters of the Draft Resolution
And yeah, pretty clear, I didn’t snatch any award at the end of the day. (: I was a little disappointed; I knew I could’ve done so much better, and it killed me that I didn’t. But, something cheered me up and boosted my spirit. My co-chair, the guy whose expertise was the Eurozone crisis, specially came to me and said, “You were really great. You made really great points. You just need to push through next time, and I bet you can grab some awards.”
And I was like, awwwwww (‘: Thanks, Thomas, you were such a great co-chair as well. You really gave me motivation to try again and try better next time.
Highlight of the day: Marcella and Indy both were honored the Honorable Mention in their respective councils! Whoopeee (x So proud of them!
And with the closing ceremony ended, we all left the Nanyang Executive Center, which had been our home for the past three days, and headed to the Rucksack Inn 2, our next low-cost stay for the next two days.
But that’s another story! Let’s wait for the next post eagerly, because it will contain WONDERFUL pictures from the Universal Studios Singapore! (x Toodles!
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