Monday, February 4, 2013
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Saturday - our final day
Today we wrapped up our
life-changing trip to the Netherlands. We woke-up early in The Hague and traveled
to the train station to catch our train to Amsterdam. We said our final goodbyes to a city where countless
memories have occurred. We filled an entire car of the train 50% people and 50%
luggage.
We arrived in Amsterdam to clear skies. We saw the hustle
and bustle of the legendary streets. As
we observed our surroundings we soon realized that we were not in The Hague
anymore. Instead, we were in a beautiful city, which was once the wealthiest
city in the world.
We came to Amsterdam and checked into out
rooms. The girls ended up getting a fabulous deluxe room. We then quickly put
our stuff down and meet our tour guide, Gerk. He showed the true history of Amsterdam
including the luxurious townhouses that belonged to the nobility in
Amsterdam. One of these houses happened
to be the house of John Adams when he came to the Netherlands looking for
sponsors for the American Revolution. We then visited Catholic quarters which
were specifically built for women. We also stopped at the headquarters of the VOC
(Dutch East India Company), the world’s first multinational corporation, and
learned about its history. We went to lunch and had pancakes, which were
delicious! We then ended our tour and
went shopping. We visited some souvenir
shops and got stuff for all of our loved ones.
After coming back from shopping we
went to the Anne Frank Museum. Anne Frank was a Jewish girl originally from
Germany whose parents migrated to the Netherlands in 1933 in hopes of escaping
Nazi persecution. Anne died at
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Holocaust, She became a famous
author when her father, the only surviving family member, published her diaries
so the world could see what life was like for her while trying to hide from the
Nazis after they invaded the Netherlands.
We visited her house where her family hid from German soldiers for 2
years. It was a moving experience.
We then went to the dinner and got
some words of wisdom from the seniors. All in all, this was a great ending to
our trip. We have made life-long bonds with people all over the world; we have
witnessed history, and have grown as people on this trip. The Netherlands has
truly been a trip that we will never forget.
Ashlyn Coleman
Fridays events: the final day
The bitter sweet moment came the morning of the last day
when all delegates realized their newly formed relationships and connections
would soon come to an abrupt halt. It was sad to realize that these spectacular
people from all around the world would no longer congregate into a room filled
with chairs, a large viewing screen, multiple languages spoken and placards
flying around. To focus on the soon to
be broken ties with friends and relationships you had fostered over the last 5
days would throw you into depression. I, as well as my fellow class mates and
delegates, focused on making the most of the remaining time. We talked more,
laughed more, and proposed more questions to delegates about their resolutions
and made it our job to have the best last conference ever.
This conference had a spectacular closing ceremony, where
the heads delegates for each country marched between the isles of seats waving
their flag as drummers and dancers followed them. The closing ceremony was very
enjoyable and one of the best I have ever seen.
I am glad to have had that experience. In addition to the conference,
the Bullis group took a side trip to the Peace Palace, where countries could
show their decorum by resolving their conflicts in an organized and polite
forum at the International Court of Justice.
We saw a copy of Andrew Carnegie’s check for $1.5 million dollars which
helped fund the building of the Peace Palace in the early 20th century.
Lastly, but certainly not least, was the dance party at the
end of the night to reward all delegates for their hard work. The dance was
certainly the tone changer for the conference where everything became informal.
Delegates now became “official” friends, dress code changed from formal suit
and tie to jeans and t-shirts and lastly topics of conversation changed from
the coherence of a resolution to your Facebook name. The dance to some may be seen as
insignificant, but for me, it’s when the connections between the people you
know from half way around the world become concrete. From the tears shed, to
the numbers being exchanged, this night most definitely topped off all the rest
as I think the bitter sweet taste of the conference will stay in the mouths of
our delegation for quite some time.
Idrienne Walker
Thursday's events as viewed by a member of the Economic and Social Council
Today we started the 4th
day of the conference. Thomas and I were in a small committee called ECOSOC. We
discussed a wide variety of topics: youth
employment, new criteria to measure a country’s success, employing women to
promote sustainable development, the international year of family farming, the
millennium goals of eradication of poverty and hunger, getting people more
involved in the UN, bio fuels and how they impact food security, universal
access to innovative forms of energy, and sustainable economic growth for
social development.
Our committee made each debate
enjoyable and serious. The heads of our committee, called chairs, were from
different parts of the world. During each debate we discussed a specific
resolution and the students proposed a point of interest or a question to the
person representing the resolution either in a positive or negative way. An
example of point of interest that could be asked is, “Referring to clause nine,
an area in the resolution, are subsidies in developing countries for
infrastructure really necessary given the massive foreign direct investment by
China and Asia at the moment?” After a student asked the speaker their
question, the speaker would answer it not based on personal views, but on the views
of their country or organization.
After the day ended we took a tram
to the beach. It was very windy outside so after we took a quick picture in front
of the ocean, we ran inside. Then we
went to a delicious Japanese restaurant.
We were given sheets of paper with the many foods we could order on it. All
of us were confused because we did not understand the process of ordering our
food. However, thankfully Thomas helped with the process as he spoke Chinese to
the waitress so that we could understand how to order. Dinner was very good,
and we then had ice cream.
All of us got onto the tram that
night but then realized that we were going in the wrong direction, so we got
off the bus and waited about 15 minutes for another bus to come. It was very
cold outside and super windy. After we got on that bus we had to get off again
to board a different bus. After we got off of the final bus we were not sure
what direction we had to go, so we asked for directions and finally got back to
our hotel. Now we are doing homework, and going to bed. We have a full day
ahead of us tomorrow, which consists of the last day of the conference.
Sami Zimmerman
Thursday, January 31, 2013
The UN at Work in The Hague: The Trial of Radovan Karadzic, former President of the Republic of Serbia
Dr. Bryja, Tyler, Idrienne, Keon and I witnessed history
today. We sat within 25 feet of Radovan
Karadzic with only a thick glass wall between us and this perpetrator of
genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Karadzic is on trial along with many others
at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the building
opposite the World Forum Convention Centre where THIMUN takes place. The trial is open to the public (observers
must be at least 16 years old) so the world can bear witness to the evil and
injustices of war. The Tribunal’s goal
is to hold political and military leaders accountable for their actions, most
especially abominable crimes such as murder, rape and mass killings of
civilians.
After the fall of communism in the early 1990s, the former
Yugoslavia’s ethnic and religious tensions caused the breakup of the country
into many self-declared republics including Croatia, Slovenia, and Bosnia. This led to full-scale war along religious
and ethnic lines. Europe and the world were
slow to intervene, resulting in the worst genocide since the end of World War
II.
The Tribunal issued its first indictment in 1994 when it was
established by UN Security Council Resolution 827. Karadzic was indicted shortly thereafter for
the genocide in Srebrenica where 8000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men were
systematically murdered by the Serbian Army.
Karadzic had been in hiding in Belgrade, Serbia until he was found in
2008. Shortly thereafter he was
transferred to The Hague where he has been on trial since 2009.
We spent a good hour watching the proceedings. The prosecution had already rested its case
so the defense was calling witnesses on its behalf. Karadzic, a doctor of psychiatry by training,
serves as his own lawyer. He and the
prosecuting attorney were questioning the latest witness, a commander of the
Serbian secret police in Bosnia. The proceeding
was surreal; so hard to imagine the people, places and crimes described as
events that actually occurred in our lifetime.
The importance of place and the work of the United Nations
struck home for my students and me.
Tomorrow we will visit the Palace of Peace, the home of the UN’s International
Court of Justice.
Ms. Vardi
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Wednesday: AM - THIMUN Conference and PM - Amsterdam
Today was the third day of the conference. We only had sessions in the morning until 12:45
(Sami and I are in the Economic and Social Council) and then in the afternoon we
went to Amsterdam by bus which was a very enjoyable bus trip. We visited the Rijks Museum, the national museum
of the Netherlands, where we saw several paintings including Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, and Vermeer’s Kitchen Maid. After the museum trip, we took a walk and
tried to find a good restaurant to eat. We went through the busy shopping
street with lots of trams, buses and bicycles. Finally we found a restaurant
called Bouf, where the food was
amazing. We liked it so much; we even
loved the bread before the meal. After
the delicious dinner, we found an ice skating rink which was close to the
museum and skated. We really had fun
skating, even though I fell into a small pond of water. I
still enjoyed the skating so much, and I hope we can go again. After skating, we
went to a coffee bar and had some wonderful hot chocolate and ice-cream. The
bus came to pick us up at 9:30 pm and we rode the one hour bus ride back to The
Hague and ended this amazing day!
Thomas Liu
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
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