Embedded Files
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”
― St. Augustine
― St. Augustine
If I haven't said it enough times here, I absolutely love to travel; I've been to 17 countries and have the goal of visiting every country in the world someday. The reason I travel to new places is to experience new cultures and connect with the values of a different region of the world. But everywhere I go, I always learn something new that I can use in my life, even if what I learn is in a different language!
In Hong Kong, I learned about Hong Kong heritage and East Asian culture; in India, I picked up two new languages while I lived there and got to use them when I went to India just a few months ago. While I stayed in Panama, I increased my ease and fluidity in learning Spanish, and in Italy, I had experiences with art, literature and music that set me up quite well for the ancient Roman history we discuss in school. It's not always evident immediately, but different countries can teach us a lot more about ourselves, and bring out sides of ourselves we didn't even know existed. Travel has that magical effect.
Visiting new countries and directly learning about culture is one of my main goals whenever I visit a new place. However, I believe that to truly see a country and experience it like a native, you need to have ordinary experiences and make them special for you. Whenever we go to a new country and eat at a new restaurant, I always try to think about what it is I'm eating and why it's important to the culture of the place. Pizza, for example, is famous both in Italy and in the US, and I've tried both varieties of pizza. (Honestly, I have to say I love the Italian version.) So, I think about not just how the pizzas are different, but why those differences arise in the first place and how they are tied to culture. This kind of indirect thinking and knowledge is more powerful to me than directly seeking out a particular location: not everyone who lives in India goes to the Taj Mahal often, but they'll all stop at least once every couple of days for some coconut water.
An event that I have gone to that involved another culture was when I visited the Skywalk Glass Bridge in Arizona and got to meet the native Hualapai tribe. It was very eye-opening to see their traditions and how they have managed them in the modern world.
In India, I gave a presentation about outer space to kids at a middle school. I learned about their school curriculum, how and why they were interested in learning about outer space, and how to use local references to teach them the subject-matter.
Glocal Experiences: Model United Nations (MUN)
Glocal Experiences: Model United Nations (MUN)
One Glocal experience that I am fortunate enough to have been a part of as a high school student is participating in my school's MUN club. MUN stands for Model United Nations, and in it, students represent delegates from different countries. The students are part of individual committees, or rooms where specific topics are debated. An example committee would be the World Health Organization, and students could be debating the morality of euthanasia, just as a hypothetical topic.
My MUN journey started at EDUMUN 2019, my very first conference where I debated about the Belt and Road Initiative in Latin America as Mexico. It opened my eyes to issues that I didn't even know existed, and winning the Honorable Mention in my committee truly sparked me to continue my passion for global diplomacy locally. After attending STEMUN 2020, I was accepted to staff the World Health Organization committee at PACMUN 2020. Every MUN committee has a group of staffers who prepare the committee and its logistics; it is a much higher role than a delegate, and truly a privilege to be in. I closed out the last conference of my freshman year as a delegate at KINGMUN 2020, winning the Best Delegate award in my committee, ASEAN, as Thailand. I was also selected to staff an introductory MUN seminar at EDUMUN 2020 this year, and have been on numerous Secretariat positions in MUN conferences like KINGMUN and SeattleMUN in 2021.
The real reason I keep moving forward in Model United Nations is because of the diplomacy, leadership and international engagement I get to have. Representing different countries and going in-depth about their individual stances on an issue truly lets you see different perspectives. Not every country has the same government, values or culture as we do, and I cannot think of a better program to really throw you into heated debate about these topics than MUN. The club really clears up a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes about the world, because stereotypes don't get you anywhere to passing a resolution to the topic at hand.
Finally, MUN allows you to engage and connect deeply with the world on another level than simply reading the news. Preparing research materials for an entire committee has been the most fulfilling experience in my MUN career I've had, because as an Assistant Director for this committee, my job is to find every country's general position on the issues, and what the world as a whole has done to tackle these problems. Even though the farthest conference for me to travel to would probably be the one in Vancouver, Canada, each minute I sit in a committee room feels like a lifetime of getting to know the real, the important issues of our world as a whole. MUN paves the way for youth to take the reins and take on diplomacy in a new, more technologically-oriented way.
Snapshots from my MUN Career in high school.
Snapshots from my MUN Career in high school.
The KINGMUN 2020 Virtual Closing Ceremony, where I won Best Delegate in ASEAN as Thailand.
The KINGMUN 2020 Virtual Closing Ceremony, where I won Best Delegate in ASEAN as Thailand.
This is a heading
This is a heading
this is text
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse