seoulite.

SEOULITE: Model UN Press for SEOMUN (MUN in Seoul).

It was frustrating. It was confusing. It was nerve wrecking. It was lonely.

It wasn't my first time being on MUN press. Yet, this one was different- very different. The press is hosted by Seoul International School; hence, majority of the people in the group are from SIS. Starting from the preconference issue, which is the issue that is created before the conference even starts, it was hard to communicate with the editors as they were from a different school and Gmail was the only way to talk with them. They were, for sure, benign people. However, communicating through Gmail wasn't to convenient. Moreover, it left me dazed and frustrated. It wasn't anybody's fault, but the situation itself just thwarted me.

After the preconference came the actual issue. At that time, we were at SEOMUN, the actual conference. We were in a press room. There, we met everybody in the press and we no longer had to email back and forth, while waiting for a reply. It was alleviating to be able to talk to them directly. The first day, however, was nerve wrecking. First day of conference, two other girls from my school and I walked into the press room. It was frightening. We barely knew anybody. We felt alienated. We didn't know what to do. The editors welcomed us, but for some reason, we still felt secluded. We mostly talked amongst ourselves and formed a little corner for us three.At one point, we were somewhat disappointed that we couldn't approach the others easily. And to myself, I wondered, "Will the conference end like this? Without getting to know anybody?"

Well, the conference did end in a status quo. Nothing much changed from the first day. BUT, at the press luncheon, thins changed. My school girls and I evidently sat together, but surrounding us were SIS press members and the editors. They wanted to comfort us, so they started a casual conversation and it lead to something more profound. We started making connections and the "ice wall" had melted instantaneously. It was pleasant. We finally stepped into the circle of the rest of the press; the people were fun and amiable. The worst part though was the fact that it was over. The best part was the fact that we had created new friends.

via SEOMUN.org