CUIMUN 2018: Chaos, Hangovers, and a Sweeping Victory
Written by: Samuel Huang
Just this past weekend, #TeamLSE traversed the plains up North and arrived in Cambridge for Cambridge University International Model United Nations. Despite the cold weather and a serious lack of alcohol, our team impressively swept the conference and emerged victorious with the Best Large Delegation Award.
The first day started with an opening ceremony that unfortunately revealed to us the passing of long-time MUNer and loving friend of many, Daniel Page. We were all shocked by the news and mourned the loss of a cherished member of the MUN community. In honour of his memory, we decided to make the most out of CUIMUN, as we know Daniel would have wanted us to do so.
For all of us, the first committee session was filled with intense debate that drew from the very core of our souls; we were all drained by the end of the day and barely managed to make it home in one piece. A few hours later, we were struggling to decide whether to go to the social event, as everyone was either tired to the bone or sick of talking at that point. Our pre-drinks session quickly turned into an intensely inappropriate game of “Truth or Truth” and “Ring of Fire”. I’ll leave the details out, but I’m sure you can imagine what went down that night.
On the second day of CUIMUN, the majority of us were surprisingly not hungover and could actually function at an appropriate level. Knowing that our awards rode on our performance that day, we poured all of our hearts and souls into our speeches as well as resolutions. The day concluded with a formal dinner that, thankfully, served quite a bit of wine (just enough for SOME of us to get tipsy). While the delegates of the Crisis Committee and the Iran Nuclear Negotiations Committee wept over their lack of alcohol, the rest of us enjoyed embarrassing ourselves by getting drunk off of cheap white wine. To say the least, by 11 P.M., our head delegate had given up on being the responsible one while our deputy head delegate rushed home due to a self-induced headache from drinking past his alcohol tolerance (which is apparently two glasses of wine). But all hope of the delegation returning home safely was not lost, as Melvin gloriously stepped up and made sure to deliver each and every one of us home in time for the next day.
The final day of the conference started with the sound of hungover groans and regrets from the other night. Bowls of Coco Pops and Kellogg’s Corn Flakes were consumed in a matter of minutes as everyone rushed to make it to committee in time. After yet another day of fruitful debate, the delegation came together and marched towards the Closing Ceremony in unison. We proudly brandished our LSE pins on our chests and awaited patiently for awards to be given out. Although there was a brief moment of disappointment and confusion as Best Small Delegation was handed over to Cardiff University. For some weird reason, we were unknowingly classified as a large delegation and were thus awarded Best Large Delegation.
We would like to thank the following award winners:
1. Lina Jeffcock, Best Delegate, WHO
2. Vanessa Lock, Best Delegate, UNDP
3. Richard Sathirathaya, Best Delegate, Historical Crisis
4. Melvin Kan, Outstanding Diplomat, Iran Nuclear Negotiations
5. Jack Hebb, Outstanding Diplomat, ECOFIN
6. Matheus Santos, Outstanding Diplomat, San Francisco 1945
7. Maha Akbar, Outstanding Diplomat, UN Women
8. Frederik Braun, Outstanding Diplomat, DISEC
9. Chris Matthews, Verbal Commendation, UNHRC
And of course, those who helped as chairs and staff:
1. Natalie Chung, Director, UNDP
2. Muqqaddam Malik, Director, UNSC
3. Katharina Wodenitscharow, Assistant Director, UN Women
CUIMUN was hella lit.
