Testimony
MY EXPERIENCE IN NAIMUN LX, by Bruno Chunga.
It all started two months before the trip. They assured us that NAIMUN was going to be highly competitive and that the common denominator there would be that all the delegates are good speakers, good negotiators, would have good arguments, and that we would be at a disadvantage simply because English is not our native language. But we were going to go much better prepared than all the other delegations. At the end of December of last year we began a long and demanding process of preparation for the conference. Miss Eilin, Professor Varela, and our advisors Daniel Huapaya and Mar Gutiérrez put us through countless theoretical and technical tests, in-depth research, helped us prepare incredible speeches, and made sure we handled the topics we were going to discuss perfectly, because they would not settle for anything less than that. Not a law, not a statistic, not a fact, not a single concept was allowed to escape us. It was extremely exhausting, but God knows it was worth it. The preparation they provided us with was so good and comprehensive that some of us ended up knowing more about the issues than our committee chairs.
El primer día de la conferencia nos sentamos junto a otros 3000 delegados en la ceremonia de inauguración. Había delegaciones de todo el mundo; de Canadá, México, Colombia, Gran Bretaña, Sudáfrica, India, de y muchos otros países. Una vez terminada la inauguración, fuimos a nuestros comités a hacer nuestro trabajo. Cuando regresamos al hotel esa noche, estábamos estresadísimos y desmoralizados porque la conferencia era completamente diferente a lo que habíamos pensado. Era muy demandante -algunos de mis compañeros tenían que debatir en comités de 300 personas con un procedimiento diferente al que estábamos acostumbrados. Los faculties nos apoyaron y el segundo día a todos les fue mejor. Excepto a mí. Durante la segunda sesión de la conferencia, cometí un error y la mesa directiva decidió cambiar el personaje que yo debía representar. Toda la preparación e investigación de los últimos dos meses no la podía aplicar. La siguiente sesión era en una hora y Miss Eilin y Mar estuvieron ahí para ayudarme en todo lo que pudieron y me motivaron para seguir adelante. “Toca asumir” me dije a mi mismo, y así fui a la tercera sesión. Comencé a hablar más, a negociar mejor, a tener más presencia en el comité; comencé a hacer las cosas bien. Para la cuarta sesión, ya me estaba divirtiendo como nunca. Di los cuatro mejores discursos de toda mi vida, me hice amigo de un delegado y establecimos una alianza, superé los argumentos de la oposición… Fue genial.
On closing day we sit down with the other 3,000 delegates again and look forward to the announcement of the awards. We screamed maniacally when Alonso Belevan was awarded Honorable Mention, and I felt my soul leave my body when I was awarded Best Delegate. I ran to receive the gavel and my diploma, and when I returned to the seat everyone hugged me. I was euphoric, but it doesn’t end there. When Carmelitas was nominated as BEST INTERNATIONAL DELEGATION we screamed so loud that half the audience turned to look at us. Professor Varela was very excited. Carmelitas had succeeded and we had shown that our school is first class internationally. For us it was like winning the World Cup, in fact, Santiago Lindo and I left the Auditorium singing bars of the national team. I am very proud to have represented my school and I am infinitely grateful to the CARMUN faculties for always supporting us and giving us these wonderful opportunities. I owe it all to them.
