By Raluca Mirea, drawing by @a.ry.yyyy
I could feel the positive vibes in the air from the first steps I took inside. The Spiru Haret University’s hall was crowded with delegates, all of them wearing beautiful smiles alongside graceful suits. Some of them were gathered in small groups, happy to encounter old MUN friends, while others were sliding from one place to another. Personally, I had the honor to talk to some of them, in an attempt to find out who they are beyond the title written on their badges.
Ioana Negoita is an MUN first-timer. “I am really eager to see how it is and to debate”, she said. “I would like to develop my negotiation skills and meet new people”. For her, this conference is not just an attempt. She is willing to study international relations at university, so she thinks this experience will help her a lot to find out what that will be all about. “I don’t want to go there without having any kind of experience”. She will represent the country of Estonia in the Legal committee.
Tudor Stefan, who is the delegate of the Republic of India in the DISEC committee, is also a first-timer. For him, “getting experience is the main purpose of this conference. I hope I will get to know many people, maybe make new friends”. However, he started this as a one-time try, but he is considering to participate in other MUNs in the future.
Ecaterina Nistor represents the Republic of South Africa in the Security Council. GoetheMUN is her seventh MUN, and she has experienced being both delegate and chairperson. Her first MUN was LazarMUN 2019, which compelled her to continue with this type of conference. I asked her what it is like to be back in the position of a delegate, and she replied: “Sometimes I observe that my chair did something wrong and what goes through my mind is, ‘should is correct him? Should I step back?’ I know how annoying it can be to have someone correcting you every time.” She really enjoys debating so to her this is the fun part. “I can`t really debate some political things with my friends, because they believe that I’m arguing with them”, she adds with a smile.
Once the time for small talk elapsed, we gave way to the Opening Ceremony and entered the amphitheater. Whether it was intentional or not, the singer made the GoetheMUN opening one of the most memorable we have ever seen, or heard.