Thursday's events as viewed by a member of the Economic and Social Council

Today we started the 4^th 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