School trips are a universal experience for any student. We are united by excursions and field trips that are a short 10 minute ride away. Places like a local museum or a theme park are the usual go-to. Soaring 6000 km across the Atlantic isn’t your average excursion, especially when the final destination is the unvoiced modern mecca of the world.
Picture the most famous city skyline, with Art Deco skyscrapers like the Empire State Building and sleek modern glass structures like the World Trade Center. Only one city comes to mind, New York! The iconic outline takes me back to our ride from Newark as we eyed the glittering towers. They reflected the bustling city that was waiting for our grand arrival. The feeling of being in the city is pure elation, an addictive sensation that I could never get sick of.
As an avid participant of our model United Nations club, I jumped at the opportunity to join this expedition to New York City and participate in the National High School Model United Nations conference 2026 (NHSMUN)!
NHSMUN is known amongst the MUN community as THE conference to attend. Past guest speakers of the conference include Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and this year Mitt Romney. With thousands of attending participants and decades of legacy, NHSMUN is royalty in the MUN realm. Thirty SIS students had the chance to represent our school, partake in prestigious debates and stride down the regal conference halls.
While the conference taught us immeasurable learning experiences, the long strenuous days of presenting and collaboration, in addition to the inevitable jetlag, wore us down. These moments of exhaustion occurred more times than I want to admit however, it just took one look out the window to return the smile to my face. We were in the city that birthed pop culture, and honestly, so much of what built my character.
The crowded coastal metropolis that is New York City organically fosters a vitality that can’t be manufactured. The pulse of the city is the community of people from hundreds of countries, traditions and languages.
To be honest, I’ve always dreamed of strutting the Upper East Side in kitten heels like Carrie Bradshaw, or jumping from skyscrapers like Peter Parker. Just breathing the same air as these icons and living in the city of dreams for a week was enough to make this a cherished memory; the best school trip ever!
