19 students from 4 ESO and 1 Bach have travelled to Ptuj, Slovenia to attend the fourth GimMUN conference, accompanied by MUN Director Nicola Dignum, Mercedes De La Rica and Beth Boyle. The conference was attended by 200 students of schools from five countries.
Nerea Cuesta, Delegate representing France in the World Health Organisation:
We woke up at 5 in order to be punctual to get the airplane that took off at 6.50am. As we were very tired we all slept during the flight. Then we waited in Frankfurt airport and then took another flight to Zagreb, Croatia. When we arrived a bus was waiting for us to take us to Ptuj. Once we arrived here we wandered around the streets and although there wasn’t many people in the town center we really liked the river and had dinner in a delicious slovenian restaurant. Finally we came back to our hotel which is really welcoming and what’s more, we like the fact that we have a kitchen and dining room inside our “apartment”.
Maria Fernandez, Ambassador of Equatorial Guinea in the GA3 Committee:
Today it was our first day in Slovenia. It was beautiful!!! First, we visited a school at the capital Ljubljana and we met our new friends, who gave a welcoming presentation about their school and MUN activities. Ayalde students also gave another presentation about our city and school. Then, we had a tour to visit the whole school, which was enormous. Later, they showed us the city center of Ljubljana. They gave us a guided tour, which showed us the best restaurants and shops in town. We hope tomorrow will be even better!!!
Rocio Gomez, Delegate representing Norway in UNEP:
After our trip in Ljubljana we went to the Lake Bled. It was a huge lake with 30m of depth and an island with a church on top in the middle of it. After receiving some information about the place, like it’s fame for being the most romantic place in Slovenia where a lot of couples get married every year, we had some time to spend on our own. Some of us wanted to go up a hill to see the castle. For that, we needed to go up 300 steps. After a long way, we arrived at the top and we were amazed at the stunning views! We could see everything from there! We also had the opportunity of eating a typical cake of the place, which was delicious, and making a lot of photos. After that, we came back to Ptuj to have dinner. We went to a very nice restaurant where we could order whatever we wanted, from pasta to meat. It was a perfect end for an amazing day!
Carmen Arriola, Delegate representing Equatorial Guinea in UNEP:
On Saturday morning we had a little bit of luck and we were able to wake up at 9:00 as breakfast closed at 9:30 and we had free time for sightseeing and lunch. At 14:15 we were all prepared to do the registration at the school where the conference would be held. Once the registration was done, we received a talk in which we were told about being a delegate and they explained what we could and what we couldn’t do during debating. Finally, a student of the school gave us a brief guided tour of Ptuj before we arrived to the opening ceremony, which began at 6:30.
Sofia Tarela, Ambassador of France in the Drugs & Crime Committee:
The Opening Ceremony took place at the old monastery of Ptuj. At the start, everyone was taking their places. Chairs and ambassadors sat at the front and other delegates at the back. Suddenly everyone went quiet and the orchestra came out instrument by instrument, playing the European Union’s national anthem. After all the VIP speakers, the Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ptuj’s mayor and the school’s headmaster, a student from the Gimnazija Ptuj school sang Imagine by John Lennon. When the performance was over, all the ambassadors did their opening speeches, starting with the permanent members of the Security Council. The country that was giving the speech from Ayalde was France. When all the ambassadors had given their speeches, we had dinner and wrapped up for the night.
Daniela Herrera, Delegate representing France in the Security Council:
The Security Council is always considered the most difficult committee. However, not only with the help of other delegates and the chairs, but also with good preparation, we succeeded in creating a resolution on Illegal Weapons Use and Classification in which most of the members agreed, as well as another resolution on Improving the Situation in Côte d’Ivoire, which got a unanimous voting in favour. Lastly, we ended with a debate on the hypothetical case that the UK had already exited the EU and Scotland had asked for independence, in which some of the permanent members had to veto some other clause, including myself. Considering the seriousness and importance of all the topics, we managed to make the conference more bearable and funny with the gossip box and entertaining 5 minute breaks. Finally, what I liked most is that I learned a lot about the topics in question and also about some other current events.
Lucia Juarros, Delegate representing Equatorial Guinea in World Health:
With a big difference my committee has been the best! We had two topics, the first one was the question of the legal drinking age, I represented Equatorial Guinea and it was the only country where there’s no minimum age for drinking alcohol so everyone attacked me but it made it more interesting and fun. The same happened with the second topic, the question of healthcare in prison. The Sec-Gen also entered twice in our committee to propose us some crisis. The last day we opened the gossip box and gave some funny awards to the delegates such as the best couple, the best socks and even the most likely to end up in jail. Everyone was really kind therefore I have enjoyed a lot the experience in this committee!!!
Leire Martínez, Delegate representing Equatorial Guinea in the Security Council:
On Sunday at the end of the conference we went to the hotel, which was ten minutes walk away. While we walked we had time to tell all the stories of our first day at MUN, who was on our committee, whether we had given a speech or not. After a half hour of rest at the hotel, we went to Mass at 7pm in the church of St. Peter and Paul. As soon as the Mass was over, we were given time to have dinner where we wanted. Some opted for Mcdonalds, others for a restaurant, there was even some who dared to cook. Then, as we were exhausted we went to bed, putting an end to a great day.
Enara Prado, Delegate representing Norway in the World Health Organisation:
To start the evening, the school of Gimnazija surprised us with a delicious dinner with a great variety of typical Slovenian dishes; the Ayalde Munners were delighted since it would be one of the last moments that we would share with our new friends. But the night is young, and after dinner we all went together to the dance area, where a band waited for us prepared for the performance. We danced for hours, and what made it more enjoyable was that the band members were delegates and admin of GimMUN Ptuj 2019. Finally, at 11 we returned to our respective hotels waiting for the next day to start!
Judith Gonzalez, Delegate representing France in the Environment Committee:
During these two days, the Environment Committee discussed two important issues, light pollution and the ban on plastic products. After discussing the consequences of these two problems, two resolutions on plastic and one on light pollution were accepted. In addition, we also had a small debate on which was the best pet, the dog or the cat, and among all the delegates we created a resolution on a hypothetical crisis in which there was a leak of high quality oil in the Indian Ocean, which I really liked it. All of the committee delegates were very collaborative and participatory in contributing their views to a solution that met the needs of all countries, making it one of the most interesting committees!
Marcela Arana, Chair in the Drugs & Crime Committee:
Chairing for the committee of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime was extremely enriching. At first, and since it was my first time in that position, I was a little bit lost and got confused with some of the procedures during debates. Fortunately, my co-chair and the president were always willing to help me and we managed to make the debates very fruitful and enjoyable. We had so many amendments for the topic of Gun Control that it took us the whole day to debate one sole resolution, which luckily passed to the General Assembly and all delegates from other committees were able to debate on it there. We ended the committee sessions by opening the gossip box and we had a lot of fun reading the comments that had been sent. I really enjoyed the experience and hope to be able to do it again.
Isabel Saiz, Delegate representing Equatorial Guinea in Drugs & Crime:
Today it has been a tiring but fun day. We started this Tuesday at 7:00 am as we had a photo session at the school at 8:00. We arrived there, took some photos with our delegations and flags, with all the Ayalde girls and finally with all the people in the conference. Later we had two hours of committee sessions where we debated a crisis proposed by the Secretary General. After a coffee break, we started the General Assembly where we listened to the proposed resolutions and voted for or against them. The time for lunch arrived and as we were very hungry we ate all our food although it wasn’t excellent.
And almost without realizing it, the opening ceremony has arrived. There, each chair mentioned some delegates because of their excellent job. And not surprisingly our delegate of France in Environment, Judith Gonzalez, was one of the mentioned ones. Congratulations!
After saying goodbye to all the people we had met, with great sorrow, we went to the hotel to rest for a while before going out to dinner. As it was our last night there we decided to go to a restaurant for dinner. And this was all our Tuesday in Ptuj.
Irene Cordero, Delegate representing Norway in the Drugs & Crime Committee:
Being in the committee of Drugs and Crime has been such a wonderful experience because I have learned a lot of new things from wonderful people that would help me in my future life.
The first day of debate I was very nervous because I did not know the people and they seemed cold. Also, I was really afraid of speaking that day, after debating the topic of controlled substances for medical purposes I didn’t speak nothing.
The second day I went more confident of myself because the people was really kind and I made 3 points of information and the speech of my policy statement in the resolution of the question of gun control.
All members in my committee were very concerned about theses two issues and made the conference very interesting. I hope to return again.
Maria Lacabex, Delegate representing France in the Historical Council:
We just had one main topic, Crises Throughout the Second World War. Each one of us represented an important character of our country during the Second World War, so I was Charles De Gaulle. We needed to put ourselves into their shoes. I honestly think that this committee is the greatest, everyday we learned something new and we debated it until we found a solution, for example the German offensive in Poland, the Pearl Harbor attack, the two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima…
History for me is really important, we need to know our ancestors’ mistakes to not repeat them in a future. During this conference I’ve learned that every problem has a solution and only together, listening to each other, we can solve them.
Anne Moran, Press Team:
During the conference GimMUN Ptuj 2019, I’ve been part of the Press team. Since I have only started this year with MUN I don’t have too much knowledge of what the Press team was. We have been working on a newspaper about the conference, with articles, interviews, photographs… I’ve done some interviews about the conference which has been a good opportunity to meet new people and know different points of view. I hope to continue this year in the Press team, and to have such good opportunities as this one.
Marta Uribarri, Social Media:
Being in charge of Social Media means publishing everything we do, from trips to our delegates and chairs in their committees. To make this process faster before going to the conference I prepared a document with hashtags and accounts that have something in common with every topic of each committee. During the trip I took pictures of all the things we did, like visiting Ljubljana and Bled, and posted them. Moreover, during the conference I walked in and out of the committees and took pictures of our delegates giving speeches, doing points of information etc. Being part of Ayalde’s social media team means a lot to me as it lets me live unforgettable experiences which will always remain in my pleasant memories. I really hope I get to do this again.
Paula Rubio, representing France in GA3:
During the three days of the committee sessions, I took part representing France along with other 23 delegates of different countries in the GA3 (social, cultural and humanitarian) committee. There, we discussed the question of the Child Labor Prevention and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, of which passed two resolutions on each topic. The resolutions were submitted by one or two countries’ delegates but all of us participated with amendments which were used in order to improve and complete the final resolutions. Although discussing very serious issues, we had a lot of fun thanks to some delegates such as the one that represented Saudi Arabia who showed his country’s ideas in a really passionate way which caused several disagreements. Also, on the last day the chairs read the gossips which had been written during the two previous days by all the GA3 members and they gave some funny awards (for example. to the most likely delegate to become a dictator, a cat lady…). The same day we discussed a crisis about the LGBT community which we successfully solved.
Blanca Bareño, Chair in World Health:
This was my second conference as chair. It was a really nice experience chairing a committee as WHO, which was a respectful, small and participating committee. At first, not all the delegates wanted to participate but, with time all delegates did. When choosing the best delegate it was difficult, because even if there are always some outstanding delegates, in this conference lots of delegates of WHO deserved this award. All delegates seemed to have had fun, when debating and obviously, with the gossip box, punishments, mock debates and the crisis, which were the funniest activities we did in our committee. I would love to repeat this experience, it was unforgettable.
Adriana Oyarzabal, Ambassador representing Norway in GA3:
Yesterday was our last day in Ptuj and therefore we were very sad. We woke up pretty late, around 9.00, and had breakfast. At 10.30 the girls who stayed in the rooms had to leave them so they packed their suitcases and left everything clean; however, the ones who had been sleeping in apartments had to quit at 1.00 so they had a bit more time. Afterwards, we had free time till 13.00; some Munners had their last walk around Ptuj and others studied.
At 12.45 we all left the hotel and took the bus to the airport of Zagreb. We arrived at 15.00 or so, we waited until 17.20 to take the plane to Munich, we also bought something for lunch. We got there at 18.30, walked around the huge airport up to our gate, bought our dinner and took our last plane at 21.20. After a long day of flights, we finally arrived to the airport of Bilbao at 23.30, met our parents and went home.
It was a day full of differents emotions, we were tired due to the journey back home, eager because we wanted to finish that exhausted day and see our family, and specially upset as we did not want to leave Ptuj and say goodbye to that amazing experience.