Today, November 28th, we all got up and ate breakfast at the hotel, and rushed out to hurry to get to our tour at the UN Headquarters. We happened to go on the busiest day that they have ever seen, and we waited in line for a long while, trying to get through security and passport checks with many other groups. We were given orange lanyards and walked around the gift shop while waiting for a guide.
(The front of the UN with all of the flags, where we stuck our phones though the gate to get a good photo)
When a guide arrived, our group was a small one and the guide was very eager to hurry. We started seeing a conference going on where we convened and were given the low down regarding the rules in the buildings. After, we went down a hall with an art gallery of country gifts that are given once they are adopted in. This art piece she focused on focused on symmetry and the trick-of-the-eye was that no matter where you were in the room, the path leading to the small palace or temple always was pointed towards you. We then entered large hallways with 1920s/30s interior architecture with all of the cut stone of different colors and clean lines. She talked about each room quickly as we walked by, and she emphasized the urgency that was that we all stuck together. We then entered the main UN conference room, where she talked about just what meeting happened in there. It was a beautiful large room with the original ceiling, and we had limited time for photos (and another man in the tour group tried getting into the one that we were able to take!)
(One of the main larger rooms where we took a group photo)
We then hurried to a small room where a celebration of new UN members were setting up. The walls had original murals showing depictions of peace, war, the continents represented as giants, as well as more. There wasn’t any time for pictures as a group as she said we were way behind schedule. We hurried to the other main conference room with the painted ceilings, however there was a meeting going on in there and we had to duck at the window to see it, and weren’t allowed to take pictures. We were hurried out, and just as we left the meeting let out, but we weren’t allowed to go back to see the ceiling better. We all hung out in the gift shop after and collected fun mementos to end the trip there.
(The ceiling with the giants representing the continents painted on it in the room with the celebration set up)
At the convention, to our surprise, the plenary was cancelled to give more times for contact groups. I ended up going to the technical group for effectiveness. Overall, it was a stressful meeting, and the Speaker had a lot of issues making sure everyone stayed on topic. This was probably the closest thing to our simulation than anything, as it was a lot of confusion, fighting over some phrases and words and punctuation. It was a very interesting meeting to witness, and even stranger that I was seating among the delegates who were debating. I sat right in front of Iran and right behind both Zambia and Kenya, and just being integrated in this group was an incredible experience. I think the craziest thing I was able to witness was how China’s, my focused country, “strategy” was to deny absolutely everything, and I didn’t fully expect such false claims, but was interesting and almost funny at times nonetheless.
(The huge chair in between the Minamata convention building and the UN building we toured with the broken leg that we all loved seeing)
We finished the night at the hotel, making pasta in the kitchen, me being surprised with a birthday celebration (which was the sweetest thing ever), hanging out on the rooftop, and then going to bed dreaming of chocolate and cheese that was happening the next day!