THIMUN Qatar 2016

  Gosh the last time I blogged was last year and it's now 2016???! Like really mannnn, where did 2015 and the whole month of January go?! 

   It's another year, another milestone. InsyaAllah. I have high hopes for this year, hopefully its the year I finally find my genuine passion and create unforgettable memories along the way.  

    Talking about unforgettable memories, last week, along with 7 friends and 2 teachers, I travelled to Qatar for the 5th annual THIMUN Qatar conference. Yep, QLC got me so hyped for this conference and our school being quite new to this whole MUN scene makes it not as easy to go so there were a lot of crying, convincing, begging, persuading etc before this became a possibility for all of us.

January 26th 2016

Dubai International Airport-----> Hamad International Airport

Came to school that morning like everyone else, except without my school uniform and with a luggage bag that people gave me looks. Calm down people, I'm not trying to run away from home or anything ok, I promise. When I saw Nadhra with her equally huge luggage bag standing at the side of the atrium I was so glad that I just couldn't put it into words and just ran up to her. See people, told you I wasn't mad.

We started making our way to the airport few minutes before it turned 11, where the others were already waiting for us. Said our goodbyes and we were off. In no time (well, 50 minutes), the cabin crews announced that we were about to land in Doha. Ahhhhh I'm back in this beautiful city! And I got my luggage this time, so far so good.

Since the conference wasn't until the next day, we had the rest of the day free. After checking in to the Grand Heritage hotel where we'd be spending our next few nights in Qatar, we walked to Villaggio mall to have dinner. Our 20 minutes walk to the mall felt like nothing because it was filled with non-stop laughter. So you can pretty much imagine how the rest of the trip went..

January 27th 2016

It was the day. Though it wasn't only excitement that filled our minds, you can still say that. Set my alarm at 430 am that night but still woke up at 5-ish in the morning. Psshh, we're 'on holiday'. Me and Christina were both jamming to songs while putting make-up on when suddenly it paused. Oh, a whatsapp notification. As soon as I scanned my thumb on the touch ID to unlock my phone, a picture of the mouthwatering breakfast selection appears. Seeing that, both of us rushed down, cause man I was starving. When we got down, we found that the restaurant was filled with other international delegates, MUN directors and other associated people all professionally dressed. Oh god. 

  

My friends and I were all put in separate committees as we were representing the same country, Belgium. Everyone was expected to be in their committee rooms at least 5 minutes before it turned 8. Seeing there were still quite a lot of time, my friends and I decided to go around approaching people from our committees. When it was almost time to go, I still have not found a single person from GA1. //Anxiety starts making its way into my head//

Like every other parliamentary meetings or well, a model one, the day started off with a roll call. It then proceeded with a 5 hour lobbying time which I must say was too long.  

When lobbying time elapsed, it was time for the opening ceremony. Being the ambassador of Belgium, I was given the opportunity to proudly present the Belgian flag in front of no less than 2000 pairs of eyes alongside other ambassadors of different countries. Though it would also be nice to carry the Jalur Gemilang, it was my moment of pride, my moment to shine (not really but ok). 

One word to describe the opening ceremony: astounding. The remarkable performances by Emmanuel Jal and American School of Doha's choir group sparked up the evening.

When the opening ceremony was over, it was time for us to go back to the hotel. It wasn't a really productive night, we all stayed in the hotel and had Pizza Hut delivered to the hotel.

All of us were chilling in Ms Karen's room and even though it might seem like a lame idea to all be locked up in a room instead of going out and discovering places when we were in a foreign country, it was so much fun. One of the highlights of the trip, in fact. 5 of us girls were all crammed up on one queen sized bed. The boys, well they can sit on the floor. The conversations we had varied in topics but of course, it included MUN. I mean, it's the reason why we were there kan, so it couldn't be left out ofc. Seriously man, writing this makes me cry buckets //sobs again//

January 28th 2016

Second day of the conference or as most people would refer to as the day the conference officially starts. Again, had to wake up at 5am ughhh, but ok its for a good cause. There were no more lobbying or goofing around this day, it was finally time for debates! 

We debated on the submitted resolutions that covered four topics assigned to our committee which all fall under the theme of this year's conference; Peacebuilding and Reconciliation. Unlike what my committee in DIAMUN did,  we debated on the resolution as a whole instead of doing it clause by clause. After a day of my mind being blown by how intense and close the debates were, it was finally time we were dismissed. 

As soon as we got to the hotel, all of us literally ran up to our rooms to get ready and stuff. By 630 pm, we were all set to leave the hotel for Katara. After like 30 minutes in the taxi jamming to songs, taking countless selfies, and laughing like mad, there we were, at the entrance of Katara. Little did we know that the moment we step out of the taxi, we would be freezing our butts off. While packing, I assumed that the weather would be just like Dubai's weather but my assumption was duh, wrong (Note to self: instead of making assumptions, do research!!). No winter coats or anything, just a thin sweater, I froze myself and became Olaf in the middle of the desert. 11 degrees ok. That's when I truly appreciate the presence of my annoying and irritating amazing friends, we were all cuddling each other until we got into the restaurant where they had heaters. Wallah, I've never been happier to feel the warm air produced by heaters my entire life. 

We had Indian cuisine for dinner and it was so gooooodddddd. Mr Powell took all of our phones so we were forced to communicate with each other like gosh. Kidding, it was so much better than constantly scrolling my instagram feed. Teachers decided to leave for the hotel after eating (probably) due to the constant complaints about how cold it was.

29th January 2016

Last and final day of the conference and probably not probably, it really was my favorite day out of all. From the moment I first pressed the snooze button on my phone till the very moment I closed my eyes. The day was filled with so much of laughter but also  a slight bit of sadness because it was our last full day in Qatar. The debates on that day were no less intense and fruitful and some delegates even chose to rap out their arguments and points.

30 minutes before we were dismissed for the closing ceremony, our commission had our very own rap battle between delegates and admins. Felt like I was in MSG witnessing Kanye West's album launch at some point. Sent a message to the whatsapp group as soon as we were let out, "HELLOOOO WHERE ARE YOU GUYS". No one answered, not before my phone died at least.

As it got closer to 3:30 pm, more and more people started making their way to the auditorium where the closing ceremony took place. It consisted of a performance by a few talented students from ASD, speeches by the Secretary General, presidents of the commissions and Ms Lisa Martin, the head of THIMUN Qatar herself. The whole ceremony was so emotional. It was the end of months and months of work, research and anticipation. Mostly anticipation by itself. 

When that was over, the shuttle bus took us back to the hotel to get ready for the Cultural Night event that took place in Qatar Academy that night. Oh my god, if I was freezing the day before this night it felt like I was taking a shower with bitterly cold water in a room filled with snow. Other than me complaining about the weather, the night was a lot of fun. It's 2016, why isn't there a time machine yet soz. They served Arabic food, played Arabic music and had Arabic tents set up. Its cultural night after all, right? 

30th January 2016

Our teachers made sure all of us were in the lobby by 630am because that's when we're supposed to "leave". But no, we only left 45 minutes after that. We sacrificed our breakfast for this, I felt so betrayed. Though in their defence, it was so that we would be there on time. 

In no time, it was time to say goodbye to Doha again. It was the end to another amazing and unforgettable experience, an experience that will InsyaAllah motivate me to be a better person. Shout out to everyone who made my few days in Qatar so much fun, y'all are the best. Without further ado, the delegate of Belgium would like to request a motion to extend THIMUN Qatar 2016, or maybe a part 2, second that? 

Omg seriously, who's idea was it to write a blog post to cure this post-THIMUN depression cause it's not working. It's actually making it worse //cries and replays feel again// 

*I'll be updating this post once I get the pictures, stay tuned!

Till next time,

Alanis

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