“NAIMUN Security…Open Up.”

As I got up from my twin-sized bed, I looked at the puzzled faces of my friends. I began reflecting on how we got to this point where security was waking us up at 2 a.m.

On Feb. 12, the Jamesville-DeWitt High School Model United Nations Club was Washington, D.C. bound for the North American Invitational. Over 2,500 students attend this conference, from all 50 states and even different countries such as China and the Middle Eastern country of Bahrain.

A record-breaking snowstorm had stunned the Maryland-Virginia area and kept my fellow members and myself from partaking in the first day of the conference on Feb. 11. Instead, we left on Friday, missing Thursday’s committee sessions and our scheduled Pentagon tour. We finally left Syracuse at 6:45 a.m. with our FM counterparts on a very comfortable coach bus.

It took a long seven hours to arrive in the nation’s capital, which had been pounded with several feet of snow and ice. Along with my roommates, I departed immediately to my hotel room, earning several glares and less-than-friendly greetings for wearing a Syracuse basketball jersey at a Georgetown-dominated hotel in the Dupont Circle section of Washington, D.C.

Three months before the conference we had booked a suite for my roommates and I to share with four individual beds. But when we used our key card we found a very cramped room with only two twin-sized beds, one bathroom, a standard desk, and a small chair. Everyone’s tempers were high as we tried to come up with new ideas on how to sleep in the room without anyone sharing a bed. Because the room was so cramped and small, the hotel refused to grant us a cot due to fire hazard restrictions. I was dealing with a sinus infection and some of my roommates are a little…touchy when it comes to fraternal bed sharing. So in the end, we stole a cot from the cleaning ladies when they weren’t looking, and made one unlucky roommate either sleep on the floor, or get a cot with the senior guys in a different room. After we got the bedroom situation cleared, I headed for my committee.

Model United Nations is a program that puts an individual in a political, economic, or social council that deals with international affairs. Each member of the J-DHS team had his or her own committees, and as we went to participate in them, each of us assumes the identity of a real person or a country. I was in the Israeli Council as Defense Minister Ehud Barack dealing with daily crises that disturb the Jerusalem area. There were about 15 people in my committee, with nearly everyone contributing ideas on how to properly deal with issues that ranged from air striking terrorist headquarters, to how to solve the growing land problems with Palestinians. Usually I am more active in debates, but seeing that I was a day behind on a subject that was highly controversial, I merely stated obvious things and watched as the Agriculture and Education Ministers yelled at each other about whether or not to talk with terrorists.

I was at this session for only an hour because our bus arrived later than intended. I then I went around the area with my friends for lunch. We went back to our room after, and then headed down for the second committee session. At this point, I was bored with the Israeli Council since nothing productive was coming out of the many ideas being thrown around. After nearly four hours of debating the issues, committee ended, and Georgetown University put on a concert featuring local bands and entertainment groups to amuse the conference crowd of 2,000. It wasn’t as exciting as I expected; however the free ice cream was certainly an incentive to attend. Our club all went to bed by our midnight curfew, tired from the traveling and work from the conference.

I want to say I had a great sleep, but that did not happen at all. Because my committee was a “crisis” council, two NAIMUN council members knocked on my door around midnight to bring me down to the work again. They demanded I wear my suit and dress shoes and run down to the conference room. I refused, considering I was half-asleep with only my boxers and an undershirt on. My council’s people wouldn’t leave until I convinced them I was sick, and I couldn’t find my pants. They left angry that I wasn’t taking this conference as seriously as my fellow delegates, but it was a long day, and I needed some shut-eye.

Waking up the next morning, I again attended my committee session, garnering plenty of dirty looks and glares for not participating in the midnight crisis. For the most part, I ignored the unwanted attention and focused on helping the council in anyway I could. As soon as we ended for lunch break, I called my brother who lives in the area so we could hang out until I had to return for my final night committee. I was looking forward to my evening plans because there was a delegate dance that was being held in the hotel ballroom. Over a thousand people were supposed to attend, and my friends and I had a competition to see who could dance with the most girls at the end of the night. Committee ended with nearly everyone agreeing over a final resolution on Palestinian terrorists. Our club was going to miss the first hour of the dance because of the annual family and J-DHS alumni dinner. We wolfed down our food when it came, and began to walk back to our hotel in the snow jungle that was the nation’s capital.

After putting on semi-formal attire and freshening up, my roommates and I headed for the dance, confident in stride. The ballroom was packed and dark, with the bass of the stereo being blasted through two huge speakers. We all split up and made our way to the dance floor, squeezing through random people to find girls. This dance was great; the only bad part was the fact that NAIMUN security broke up couples that were getting “too close” with one another.

I left by myself, exhausted by nearly three hours of dancing, and went back to my hotel room. I found a nearly half-asleep MUN senior lying on my bed, moaning about his head hurting. We dragged him off my bed and sent him back to his room, thinking that his problems weren’t worth us getting involved. At this point, we were ready to fall sleep while watching the Vancouver Olympics highlights and looking forward to our last day in Washington., D.C.

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

At around 1 a.m. two grim faced NAIMUN security officials banging on our hotel door, waking my roommates and I up. We opened our room dutifully, thinking it was another midnight crisis for me. The official asked if he could search our room and then told us we were to be taken down to a security suite to be questioned. Apparently two MUN members had broken NAIMUN’s code of conduct and were being questioned.

We were brought down because there was suspicion that my roommates and I had also disobeyed the conference rules.

In our boxers and pajamas we went down the elevator with our advisor in tow. My three roommates and I were each taken one by one into a normal sized bedroom with two security officials monitoring and questioning us. The guy who interviewed me seemed friendly, and while he was serious, he was sympathetic to my situation. I answered all his questions on automatic. He eventually decided that I did not break the rules designated by NAIMUN. By 3 a.m., our club was allowed back into our hotel rooms where a few members were suspended from participating in the next day’s activities. This really wasn’t the Valentine’s Day I had expected, but it was pretty interesting.

The next morning came too early as I only got around four hours of sleep and had a long bus ride back to Syracuse in the afternoon. My committee finally ended by “Skyping” with real Palestinians who currently live in the West Bank. The experience was gratifying in that I heard real life stories about daily life in the Jerusalem area. The conference held its closing ceremonies with the Georgetown students chanting the Hoya Saxa fight song as schools began to leave.

This was a great experience in my third Model United Nations year, and I highly recommend that if interested, join the club and broaden your horizons while making new friends from all over the world.