Last week my schools Model United Nations group headed off to the real United Nations in NYC. See the earlier post. We checked into the United Nations and had a private group tour around the building. We were able to see all the large rooms were the big committees meet. In the hallways around the building we saw various exhibits and displays about issues around the world and how the UN works.

The best part by far was when we sat in the balcony overlooking the General Assembly room. The biggest room where all the countries come together. When I was there, I believe they were discussing Palestine. We were able to put on the white ear phone and listen to them talk. And it gets better. There was a dial on the arm rest where you could switch the languages and hear what they were saying in many different languauges.

Next we headed over a couple blocks to the Permant Mission to the United Nations of the country we were representing. We all sat down in the boardroom and had actual delegates to the United Nations answer our questions for around an hour. This was extremely valuable because it is the views of this nation that we were going to be representing at the Model United Nations simulation.

Next post: Hear about the actual trip to Boston for the Harvard Model United Nations.