A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…I was an awkward first-year, fresh-faced and  right out of high school. I was also an entire continent away from my beloved hometown of Vancouver (which, in my extremely objective opinion, is the best city in the world). Not really knowing anyone, feeling rather lost in the inexorable bustle that is the University of Toronto, I wandered lonely as a cloud…until I met a bunch of rather loquacious individuals with a penchant for placards and extremely polite insults–in other words, the joy that is Model United Nations.

Image courtesy of www.namun.org

OK, I jest; that was an extreme (and rather melodramatic) exaggeration on my part. But like many lies, it does have more than a smidgen of truth within. Model UN, for the uninitiated, is a simulation of the actual United Nations, a conference in which people — often students — dress up in their finest “business formal” (a term that always inspires ferocious debate) outfits, and role-play a country’s diplomats trying to come up with solutions to the world’s many tangled problems that matches their foreign policy. Upon first perusal, Model UN does sound like an exceedingly geeky endeavour, but there’s something undeniably amusing about in engaging in polite but scathing verbal sparring matches. It’s also a great way to meet new people — it’s difficult not to be friends with people you’ve spent several days arguing and partying with — and it’s a fun way to hone one’s public speaking skills. Of course, the wild post-debate parties are always a plus, as is Model UN’s resume-boosting potential.

Before I bore you all to death by extolling Model UN’s many virtues, I’m going to assume that you’ve been swayed by my flawless rhetoric and are chomping at the bit to participate in Model UN-esque activities. You can join the (extremely attractive and dedicated) team of students behind North American Model United Nations, or NAMUN, to help put together one of Canada’s oldest Model United Nations conferences. Or you can whet your undoubtedly voracious Model UN appetite at DayMUN, a small, one-day Model UN simulation that is taking place on Saturday, October 16th at Room 1180 in Bahen Centre, starting at 9AM.

Seriously, you should register for DayMUN, or try helping out at NAMUN.  I may share my extensive collection of dirty Model UN jokes and pick-up lines on blogUT if enough people are interested…

This entry was posted on Friday, September 25th, 2009 at 1:11 pm and is filed under Clubs, Events, On Campus, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.