A memorable journey at ISP MUN Malaysia: A Student’s Reflection

“If I had to summarize my experience in Malaysia in one word, it would be awe.

 

From the connections I made, to the memories I will now treasure forever, I feel as though I was able to live a lifetime in the span of a week. Being with the same people constantly for a week has brought us closer than ever before and it now feels as though they’re an irreplaceable part of my day-to-day life.

 

I am sure I can speak for most students when I say is a dream most people can only hope to live. I was one of the lucky few able to go on this journey and travelling with my friends was definitely an experience to remember, and I can say for certain that I will never forget it.

 

One of my favorite parts of the trip was having the opportunity to be trained by professionals at Model UN. For all of the individuals hosting the conference, two experienced trainers were brought in to teach us the appropriate rules and methods of debating. We got the chance to work personally alongside these experts and I feel as though I was pushed into a treasure trove of knowledge. I’m incredibly grateful to have been able to learn the work that goes into running a conference and understanding the way all individuals must run like a well-oiled machine.

How it helped me develop as a student?

Being a part of ISPMUN was a huge learning opportunity for me. Not only is MUN something that allows you to learn about the world in a real-life environment, but this was my first chairing experience. Within MUN, there are 2 key roles, a delegate who is the participating member, representing a nation of the world, and a chair who is the facilitator of the debate, meaning that they’re responsible for making sure everything that needs to be done is done.

 

Every MUN I have ever participated in, I was a delegate and was always on one side of the field, but I was lucky enough to be provided with the unforgettable opportunity to be a chair and it allowed me to learn some important things. First of all, being responsible for a smooth and productive conference means that I had to learn how to diplomatically handle delegates and learn to guide them towards the correct goals. I was able to really apply my skills of leadership and problem-solving through having to effectively steer delegates towards the solutions to the matters they were tackling. On top of that, I was tasked with creating ice breakers and bonding activities that were designed to cultivate a supportive and safe atmosphere.

I feel as though I was able to experience lessons and apply my skills in a way that really left a mark on me. I hope to never forget the things I learned or the people I met because this was truly one of the coolest experiences ever.

 

What were the challenges?

Going into the conference, there were quite a few things we had to get used to before we could really dive in. I believe that the biggest adjustment that had to be made was coming to terms with the new Rules of Procedure.

 

For context, MUN operates on a very specific set of rules called the ‘Rules of Procedure,’ or ROP, for short. There are countless different ways to go about the rules, from the standard Harvard MUN ROP to specific ROPs for each region, but the most important idea is that you stick to one consistently throughout the conference. Having been to quite a few MUNs in the past, I’m used to a very typical, standard set of rules.

 

Going into the first training session, each and every student there was shocked to learn that we would be following a whole different set of rules to what we had previously prepared for. Now, you may think, “What’s so difficult about a couple different rules?” Well, for starters, an MUN conference runs on a tight schedule with each meeting session planned from the beginning to end, but with each rulebook comes a different course of events. Everyone had to quickly adapt to the new rules and find a way to navigate a completely new terrain.

 

What were my key takeaways?

I feel as though I learned more from the time we spent at the hotel together as a group than I did from the actual conference. This isn’t to say that the conference didn’t teach me important lessons, but instead to give justice to the abundance of experience I took from the encounters I had with the other students over the course of the week. The week felt like a huge melting pot of cultures and was a wonder to witness.

 

Malaysia is a beautiful country and I hope that the whole world will someday showcase their culture with the same pride Malaysians do. A wonderful thing I learned during my stay there was that the Malaysian National Flower is a Hibiscus, and my learnings came from seeing the flower every which way I looked. Some lampposts were designed to look like the Hibiscus flower and even all of the currency from the bills to the coins had the beautiful looking flower on it. Further than that, all around the city were buildings and markets that made everything feel so unique to this area of the world.

 

The biggest takeaway I have is that meeting new people is always a beautiful thing. My favorite memory has to be when at the end of the first full day there, the dining hall had a karaoke night. This is when so many of us got to share our cultures and enjoy each other’s company. There were so many different Mexican and Spanish dances performed by people from those areas as well as songs sung in different languages. My friends and I were there to share our Arab culture by teaching others how to do the dabke. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way we all laughed and got excited over our completely unprepared performances.”