Stockholm International Schools’ MUN students had the amazing opportunity to travel to New York City and attend the largest Model United Nations conference in the world: NHSMUN. The SIS students were among hundreds of other schools, and among thousands of other delegates, debating various topics and striving to defend their country’s stance on the chosen topics. Our school represented Estonia and Thailand throughout many different committees, and we had the opportunity to meet students from all over the globe as well as real UN representatives and diplomats working in New York.

We arrived in New York after months of preparation for the conference including extensive research, writing policy memos, and preparing speeches. Upon arrival at the Hilton Midtown (where the conference was held), the students were eager to start exploring the city. We were broken into four groups, and each group set off to explore a different area of the city. This included visits to SoHo, walking around central park, visiting Time Square, shopping, eating at American restaurants, and absorbing the general feel of the city.

The next morning we continued exploring the city, despite the snowstorm that had hit Manhattan. When we returned to the hotel, we had delegate training sessions, which helped us prepare us for the conference, and in the afternoon we attended the opening ceremony, followed by our first committee session in the evening. Everyone was enthusiastic about their topics and actively contributed to the debate, despite the 6 hour jet lag. On the third day we attended an eye-opening speech about foreign aid by one of the guest speakers, followed by two more committee sessions in which we started writing clauses, forming allies, and creating our draft resolutions.

On the fourth day we had our final two committee sessions where we debated the draft resolutions, created amendments, and voted on the resolutions as a whole. These intense sessions were followed by a very fun delegate dance organized in the Hilton’s ballroom. Finally, on the last day, we attended the closing ceremony in the UN headquarters’ General Assembly. This was truly a unique experience, which wrapped up a trip that we will remember for the rest of our lives.