by Hisham Fazail
MUN has always been this wonderful, stressful, delightful experience from the hours of research to the wonderful debate all the way to that rush of adrenaline at the award ceremony. HMC Dubai 2019 was perhaps the perfect embodiment of all of this. We as a delegation were given our topics and immediately pushed into a whirlwind of assignments and research. The stress and the excitement all lit a fire of passion inside our minds and urged us forth to do our best at the conference, and so, night after night, we put hours of work into our massive binders, our assignments, and our research. HMC was unlike any other conference; the competition was fierce and the rules were rigorous. The prospect of arguing and cooperating with well-versed and articulate young men and women from all over the globe was both fascinating and intimidating. Who were these people? What innovative ideas can they bring upon the table? Will they be friendly? The questions bounced around our charged heads like ping-pong balls. With our minds set on victory and learning and our hearts fixed on making both our school and ourselves proud, nothing could stop us from marching down the paved path to triumph.
As the conference that both frightened and thrilled us drew closer upon the calendar, the heads of our MUN club were adamant on preparing us for what was to come. They organized mocks and practice debate sessions which many of us attribute to our success and engagement at HMC. We spent hours practicing our stances, our speaking skills and, most importantly, our ability to cooperate. The mocks prepped us for the hours of debate and discussion that HMC was to bring forth.
Finally, the day of the conference came upon us. We had been expecting the day for so long, yet we were caught off guard. I still remember the rush of excitement as I bolted out of math class, put on my one and only suit and hopped around with the passion that the past weeks of suspense had charged me with. I was both afraid and hopeful for the event that had finally come. We loaded onto the buses and off we went.
The first day of the conference was filled with debate and discussion about topics ranging from the South China Sea all the way to the rights of women in education. The wonderful chairs gave us the ability to shine and make our mark on the committee. The social night was perhaps the most interesting part of the 3 days. All the delegates were given loads of pizza and fries, enough to fill us for days to come, and we were pushed onto the dance floor and given a brief time to loosen up and jump around like bouncing balls of stress. The second day was filled with aggressive debate and creative solutions as the fire within all of us began to grow. The mocks and practice rounds that had been imposed on us all began to come back to us as we remembered debating with our fellow delegates in practice for HMC. Even as the competition and fierceness of the event peaked, the heads and the faculty members were always there to guide and support us. All our heads were like teachers and friends through our stressful 3 days; they were there to lift our spirits as we lost hope and to nudge us onto the path of success when we went astray. As the second day drew to an end, we all were excited about the prospect of winning awards and recognition from the board in acknowledgement of our hard work.
The third day was the saddest; we had made new friends and learned new things about ourselves. The third day yielded awards but also bid us farewell as HMC2019 came to an end. We filed into the auditorium and had the pleasure and honor of listening to wonderful speakers motivate and encourage us. Finally, the time we had all been waiting for had come. The Awards. Winning an award does not make one a good delegate; it is, in fact, the effort you put into the conference and the knowledge you take out. Many of our finest delegates were called upon the stage to collect their marks of recognition for the hard work they had put into the 3 days.
HMC2019 was truly amazing. It marked not only the starting point for many new delegates but also helped us learn new things about ourselves, meet new friends and discover that we are all amazing speakers when given the mic. HMC was the very essence of MUN, teaching us the spirit of cooperation and hard work. I hope to attend next year.