Dream comes true. That is the simplest explanation from what I experienced on my second term in the university. I became one of twelve delegates to represent University of Indonesia for Harvard World Model United Nations (MUN) in Vancouver, Canada on March 9th – 24th 2012. Harvard World MUN is an international MUN conference held by Harvard University, takes place in different host city every year. Last year it was in Singapore, this year is in Vancouver, and next year it will be in Melbourne. Every year it attracts and collects 2.000 college and university students from more than 60 countries. Since I joined UI MUN Club, a students’ activity unit that gathers all MUN enthusiasts, I made to have privilege to participate in any MUNs held in various parts of the world. To become one of the delegates, I needed to join an internal selection specifically for World MUN in the university on around November 2011 and Alhamdulillah I qualified. Did the university pay for our trip? Yes somewhat it did, but in a very little amount. We needed to seek corporate sponsors instead. We only represented our university, not representing Indonesia; as there were other universities from Indonesia coming to Vancouver as well such as UNPAD, Parahyangan, Paramadina, and IPB.  Twelve of us accompanied by a faculty advisor went to Vancouver with Eva Air, a Taiwanese airline, and spent about six hours to reach Taiwan to transit, and another ten hours trip from Taiwan to Vancouver. What I was afraid of long journey with plane was the air pressure, because sometimes I have disturbing air pressure if I take airplane from Jakarta to Medan or vice versa. But there was no such air pressure this time. The plane was nice, the plane meals were specifically delicious, there were digital entertainments, and the whole journey became indeed remarkable. This was the first time I represent my university for an extracurricular event; this was my first time going abroad, and this was my first Model United Nations.
Vancouver is a city in the British Columbia province of Canada. Vancouver is a coastal seaport city located precisely next to North Shore Mountains. Many just-like-other-metropolitan tall buildings, a wide sea, and a slouch of snow-capped mountains become the dominant cityscape in the area. One typical issue of coming to the subtropical country is indeed the temperature. It was almost always one digit everyday, ranging from 2 degrees until 12 degrees Celsius. But people in there said it was just warm already!! Other region in Canada like Montreal could experience even until -40 degrees Celsius. Brrr. That’s why we always had to put our jacket, mantle, and gloves on. During two weeks visit, we stayed in a hotel for nine days and in a guest house for the last five days. Both accommodations were provided by Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI), who had become very kind and contributive for our jaunt in Vancouver.

#an overall hand-taken depiction of Vancouver, not as good as in Google Images

Model United Nations, or simply abbreviated as MUN, is an academic conference that simulates the agenda and decision-process making quorum of United Nations. Simply put, we act as a diplomat. In each simulation, we always represent a country and then address international issues from the perspective of that country. For this World MUN, the committee determined our delegation from UI to mostly represent Latvia. Some of us represented Singapore and Switzerland. Does that mean there was one representing Indonesia? That’s true, one might have represented Indonesia. And every university delegation was divided into some different committees discussing different issues. I was put in a double-delegation committee, with a friend of mine as partner, in Special Political and Decolonization Committee (SPECPOL). The others were in Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Social Cultural and Humanitarian Affairs (SOCHUM), Disarmament and International Security (DISEC), etc

#situation in some committee

#my delegation friend holds a placard

And what we discussed in my committee was a very cliché yet intriguing topic. The topic was about Israeli-Palestinian conflict!!! You can imagine how electrifying that was. For five days, we acted as a Latvian diplomat, trying to address the problem of Israeli-Palestinian according to the country’s foreign policy. The sad fact was that we could not really denounce Israel because the real Latvia does not. Hahaha. The aim of the simulation was to result a resolution. The resolution would contain every detail point of solutions to overcome the problem, just like the real resolution. Besides giving persuasive formal speeches, the core of MUN was lobbying and negotiations. There came hot debates because every representative would like to solve the problem based on their country’s interest.  The first time I tried to approach people I felt so terribly nervous. People from foreign countries were soooooo huge!!! But I tired to collect my courage up. Even though this was my first MUN, it does not necessarily mean that we did not want to win. We wanted to grab the awards and the honorable mentions. For five days, we convinced other representatives for what our country wanted; we gave our ideas for the best solution; debated, negotiated, and lobbied everyone; and assured that we were part of the resolutions. But unfortunately, we did not win. From all committees, none of the awards we gained. Neither did other Indonesian universities. Delegates ended up grabbing the awards were those coming from Australia, Belgium, United States, United Kingdom, and Venezuela. This year was not a good achievement for Indonesia in World MUN.

#the delegate of Israel

 
 #with huge foreigners


Let alone the conference-related thingy, we are done with them. We had tried to perform the best though. You may assume that after this what we did was a total walk-around. That is true. But there is another great thing we had. Aforesaid I told that Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI) had been very contributive for us. Aside aiding us accommodation and transportation, we really had a very nice time-off with them. The best thing of simulating (learning to be) diplomat is that we met the real diplomats too!! During formal lunch invitation, casual dinners, or in-town journeys we learned many things about being diplomats. So basically consulate general is just like the embassy. We ever learned about this in PPKn subject. The difference is that the embassy acts as the country representative abroad dealing with political diplomacy. While consulate general’s working area encompasses only more about human –citizens of Indonesia in here, economic, and culture. If embassy is led by an ambassador, consulate general has a consul. To be a diplomat who represents Indonesia in a foreign country was not easy. Ministry of Foreign Affairs holds a test selecting hundreds of people each year. If we pass, we still need to qualify some brief international affair-related education and several years of training. The interesting part when you become a high-level diplomat is that you can live in various countries throughout your life. One diplomat’s son, who made to hang out with us, had lived in United Kingdom, Tunisia, and United States before came to Canada. But everything has downsides. Diplomats may only stay in a country represented for only four years. If the term ends, they need to move out. Imagine you and your family move everything–including your house, school, and furniture, whatsoever- then adapt to new environment, weather of a different country every four years? Geez… That’s what happened with our friend there. Even though the countries were more developed, the best moments that he had, the best gracious people he ever met and the best soil he ever belonged to was only, none other than Indonesia. He only had a four-year chance living in Indonesia and he had missed it so bad.

#with Consulate General Mr. Bambang Hendrasto

#Indonesian contingent                    #official lunch with KJRI

After the conference, we only visited some places nearby. We did not go to remarkable places in Canada like Ottawa, Toronto, or Niagara Falls for instances due to time and budget constraint. But spots we visited were not less remarkable. A prominent place we visited was the University of British Columbia (UBC), the co-host of the conference. UBC is one of the most reputable universities in Canada and worldwide. One interesting place inside UBC complex we came to visit was the Wreck Beach. It is one quite famous beach in Vancouver. And you know what? Wreck Beach is a nude beach. That means it is a beach in which visitors are free to be naked. Something you can only find in such liberal country. But it was winter then. So… no surprise. Hahaha.

Besides, mostly we walked around the city. We visited some venues like Stanley Park, English Bay, Public Library, Granville Island, etc. Becoming pedestrian is very comfortable in this city. There is neither crowded nor noisy traffic. People are friendly and nice too. Whenever we seemed lost, by looking confoundedly at map, there were always people tried to guide and tell us the right direction. The Economist ranks Vancouver no. 1 for the most liveable and comfortable city in the world and I found it not an exaggeration. All of us dreamed to come back here again someday. May that come come true.



#UBC bookstore                             #Wreck Beach: No, we're not naked...


#one spot in Stanley Park                   #inside Vancouver Public Library

Okay. Going to a subtropical country in winter is merely incomplete without snow. Vancouver is a rainy city with mildly chill weather. It could be snowy, but it is a rare occasion. There are some alternative remarks to see snow; we decided to go to the Grouse Mountain. Even running and catching-and-throwing snowballs already made us so exciting. The temperature in the snowy area was much colder. It reached -5 degrees Celsius allegedly. Since renting ski contrivances was very costly, we managed to have fun with snow in an economical way. We played the so-called ‘toboggan’.  It is basically a plastic board used to slide through the snow. We had soooo much fun.




#snooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww

After all, I just had another most wonderful two-week in my lifetime. Yup, I really wanted to go abroad. But I had never really imagined that I would step my shoes there so early. When I initially came to UI, there were talk-shows. In the talk-shows, it was showcased those UI students who managed to grab achievements abroad. The moment I saw it, I came to talk to myself. I said that being in this university was a ticket to go somewhere else. And with the very utter sense of gratitude, I got it.
Back then when I was in a celebration event of the high-school graduation, I borrowed a suit of blazer from my grandfather to fulfill the dress-code. The moment I wore it, I knew that such kind of dress was not supposed to take for granted. I promised myself that the next time I wear it; I should wear it in a more remarkable event. And one year later, I brought my grandpa’s suit to Canada.
I believe that this was just a beginning. Whatever happens, we all have power to make wishes come true, as long as we keep believing.











*The posting written in this blog is only an outline. View the complete story here.