Genoa MUN:

Ennuri Jo's memories from Italy.

Seven students representing the Woodstock Model United Nations (MUN) visited Italy to take part in the Genoa MUN conference. Accompanied by two chaperones, the 10-day trip included sightseeing in Italy, enjoying the local cuisine, and of course, taking back the experience of debating with students around the world in an esteemed international MUN conference.

Senior student Ennuri Jo shares her experience of Italy and the conference:

Italy for me was lots of things even before I even met the country: I imagined the city of Rome with Audrey Hepburn in it, or the Colosseum in its Gladiator-glory under the Italian sun; I pictured Europeans with their pouting mouths and somewhat gloomy faces walking around in their everyday-fashion-week outfits, walking among buildings and on cobblestone streets that looked like they just popped out of a fairytale. The wild estimations were somewhat true, but mostly, Italy was just another place where people lived; just slightly more fashionable and closer to gelatos and foccacio.

Seven students - Maari Watanabe, Cindy Jun, Chris Puthiakunnel, Joshua Sailo, Kihoon Jung, Louis Bonhoure and I were on the trip, accompanied by two chaperones, Mr. Greg Miller and Ms. Sangeeta Lall. We left Mussoorie on Feb 20, and before we knew it, we were on the plane to Rome.

The trip began in the Vatican - the place was full of tourists seeking Michelangelo at the Sistine. The same day in the afternoon, we went to see the Spanish steps, which was my favorite place of the city, and maybe even of everything during the trip, and the famous Trevi fountain.

Firenze greeted us with its gloomy and chilly weather; surprisingly, it was my least favorite city out of the three that we visited. The city itself was beautiful; being a small city, it could be crossed in about an hour or two, and wherever you went, you could see the tip of the Duomo at the center of the city peeking at you on top of the rooftops. Given its size, the city was filled with wonders and sites to see: the Duomo, the Academia Museum with Michelangelo's David statue, the Uffizi with the Botticelli Venus, the Palazzo Medicci, and the Ponte Vecchio.

The weather was beautiful when we got to Genoa; the sun was shining and the sea nearby gave the entire city a vitality of a summer day. During the short free time we had, we explored the narrow alleys and amazed at how everything looked much more relaxed - goods cheaper and the people more relaxed. The students from different schools around Genoa, that hosted the GeMUN conference as a group, took us on a short city tour and showed us the conference halls, which looked magnificent with its Gothic pillars, frescoes and statues that covered the walls.

The conference itself, though, was not half as intimidating as the solemn buildings. I was in the Disarmament and International Security committee, which was a subsection of the General Assembly. The Disarmament committee was a definition of chaos, and at one point a delegate was taping the fight between a speaker and a delegate, with everyone else putting up their placards either cheering ("Demand a public apology!") or yelling "Point of order!" Generally, though, they were good debaters, and in the end, we passed one resolution among the three topics that we discussed. Many of us later talked about the debates, which were truly entertaining, but could have been improved.

The second night at Genoa, our group went out for our "20-euros" fancy dinner, where the majority of us tried pesto on the recommendation of Mr. Miller. One of the evenings we unexpectedly found an amazing chocolate factory in a dark back alley: but the city of Genoa we saw was filled with delights like that, with kebab stores and gelateries popping out at random corners of back streets.

The last three days of the trip went by quickly. We attended the social night on the last day of the conference, and still excited from the party and sweaty from dancing, we got on the night train to go to Rome again. This time we were given free time, and some of us went sightseeing to places such as the Colosseum, the Victor Emmanuel and the Circus Maximus.

I remember thinking, when we were just leaving Mussoorie in the yellow school bus, "What would I be feeling when we are here again one week later, this time coming back to Mussoorie?" I felt as if I was going to explode with all the memories that were fresh in my head, that if I just went to sleep or started school as if nothing happened, I would forget everything - a thought which I immediately hated. Luckily, the trip turned out to be memorable, filled with random little stories from Italy that I will cherish forever.