Student report on Sweden Model United Nations 2017

Students Anton Nyman and Josefine Sundberg report on their SWEMUN experience.

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At 6:45am on the 21st of March, we, five students (Josefine Sundberg, Anton Nyman, Sofia von Cotzhausen Modin, Jonatan Kaur Ljungman, Elizaveta Shakhovskaya) and our Global Politics teacher, Marie Sandell, met on the bus on our way to Märsta, where we were joined by another teacher, Patrik Nehler, and all took the train to Falun heading for SWEMUN 2017.

We arrived at Falu Frigymnasium at 11am, with everyone excited. As the morning went on we were guided to Kristinehallen, where the opening ceremony was to be held. In the corridors there was fika and mingle as we waited for the doors to the main conference room to open. It was very interesting to meet all of these new people from various parts of Sweden and also England, France and Borneo, they seemed very professional and were already in their character roles ready for the day.

The doors opened around 12noon and all honorable delegates started to pour in, as we took our assigned seats as the French delegation we suddenly heard “ORDER, ORDER” with a loud thumping meaning that the opening ceremony was soon to start and everyone had to quickly take their places. The opening ceremony started with a bit of music and followed with a general presentation of the Hosts, General Secretary, and Chair persons. At the end of the day we started making our way to Falu fängelse youth hostel where we received our rooms. The rooms were very small and only two showers existed in the whole hotel. As you might have guessed there was a massive line to the showers in the morning as all students participating in SWEMUN were lined up. Here and there you heard “Good morning fellow Delegate” with people getting into their character roles.

On the second day we were divided up into our committees where we discussed resolutions related to specific issues. Together our committees worked towards collective resolutions, which were then passed into the debate where they were voted on. On the last day we managed to have four resolutions pass and we also had a very pleasant closing ceremony with Josefine Sundberg receiving an honorable mention from the Secretary General and the Chair persons.

Thinking back to this trip, the MUN team has gained a lot of new knowledge and perspectives. We have learnt how the UN works and how difficult it sometimes can be getting so many nations to agree on a common goal. We have also learnt how to be diplomatic. One of the most important things we learnt was how the issues discussed in the conference desperately need solutions and how we have the power to influence and make the world better when working together.