When it came to representing China in the 2015 NMUN Conference in the Czech Republic, I will say that I did fairly well.  Unlike my previous blunders in simulations where I struggled to make an effective speech, I managed to stand my ground and speak with certainty at Palaky University.

For the first time, I saw how competitive the environment can be in and out of conference.  Everyone is certainly in it to win it.  Though since we all are paragons of diplomacy, we maintain and create good relationships with other delegates (though there are some delegates that are uncharacteristically aggressive, it is a small percent).  I enjoyed being able to collaborate with others towards a common goal despite representing different ideals and priorities.  Not only is this a necessary skill for anyone in domestic and international relations, but it is also needed when connecting with other individuals in our everyday lives.  At the end of our conference, we passed four papers and led one.  We are proud to state that Lewis and Armando received a best position paper award!  I look forward to signing up for the New York conference in the spring of 2016.

Other fun tidbits during the rest of this week included our American Thanksgiving Dinner.  The Czech people, of course, had little prior knowledge about the holiday, and when they read about Pilgrims and Indians, they logically concluded that “Indians” meant those from India.  We ended up with turkey cooked in Indian curry for our first course!

Also, Palaky University is where Gregor Mendel went to study.  He was the botanist who cross-bred pea plants and discovered how the dominant and recessive genes that make up our genotype are expressed in our phenotype.  As a biochemistry major this is certainly something to brag about!