Friday, November 21, 2008

...and what happened inside


by EUN JI RHEE, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF BEIJING

Resolutions being read. Formal attire being selected. Fellow passengers wondering why a large group of teenagers have dominated the plane. Yes, you are on the flight to THIMUN-Singapore.
Over a thousand participants from all around the world gathered for The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) Singapore, 2008. The location of departure, hours of flight, and name of airline may have varied, but the delegates shared a similar experience.
Delegates tended to break the ice in the plane by starting up conversations. With a lot of time on hand, topics for conversation were drawn from eclectic sources. “We talked about a lot of stuff, from Obama to Chinese homework,” stated Laura Du from International School of Beijing. Peter Huang from the same school agreed: “I actually spent a lot of time talking about foreign soap operas.” Proximity to friends can brighten up the journey. “I enjoyed the flight because all my friends were with me,” commented Hanna Tu from Shanghai Rego International School.
Hibernation was also a hot activity. The sedentary— and in some cases, comfortable— trip immediately proved to be an optimum environment for catching up on what many of the participants are deprived of— sleep. A lot of students who came from far distant locations stated that they enjoyed the reenergizing slumber. Mayada Alhasham from Dharan School remarked, “I had an eight hour flight from Saudi Arabia, and I enjoyed it [because] I could sleep for a long time.”
Some of the flights were shakier than others, Delegate So Hyun Eum from Daewon Foreign Language High School (DFLHS) reported an unstable trip: “I [suffer from] air sickness, and the plane was really shaky, so I had a hard time during the trip. I even had to skip lunch.” This turned out to be an unfortunate event for Eum, as Hilary Ahn, also from DFLHS, commented that “[Lunch] was good.”
There was a dramatic episode regarding possessions. Hyun Kyu Kim from Korean Minjok Leadership Academy lost, and then found, his wristwatch. “Near the end of the flight, I heard an announcement that said they found a brown wristwatch. I thought, ‘What kind of stupid person would lose his or her wristwatch?’… until I found out that person was me.”

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