Many thanks to you all!
On Monday morning we all unfortunately had to depart the lovely city of Bratislava and take the Twin Cities Wienislava (Bratislava-Vienna) boat to the cosmopolitan city of Vienna, Austria. The sheer amount of history that occurred on the banks of the mighty Danube River is stunning; to be traversing it now by motorboat was sufficient to impress upon us all the level of development Europe has achieved in the past century. We passed by everything from medieval Hungarian castles to towering modern Austrian architecture, and were amazed by it all. After dropping our bags at our hotel, we immediately proceeded to the UN Headquarters in Vienna, called the VIC. Magnificent, modern buildings house one of the four official UN offices. The VIC is the main office of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is responsible for oversight of states' nuclear weapons development and instituting regulations and limitations on the use of nuclear energy. Guided by the supremely polite and courteous VIC staff, we were able to tour the incredible halls of the massive complex. We even saw an actual UN meeting hall, used by members of the IAEA. There was a council in session in another room as well, but we were not allowed to take pictures of it. On behalf of the club officers and the entire CSS MUN team, we'd like to say a hearty thank you to our sponsors, Mr. Benson and Mrs. Hedden. In addition, we'd like to express our gratitude to the Colorado Springs World Affairs Council, who generously provided us with a significant grant, which enabled us to participate in this truly once-of-a-lifetime experience. Finally, the Colorado Springs School and its teachers deserve our gratitude for being supportive and helpful in accommodating missed classes and schedule anomalies as a result of the past week's absences.
Many thanks to you all!
0 Comments
The team's final day in the General Assembly was by far the most hectic and stressful. Guyana's delegation of Owen M. and Damon D., along with Budapest International's South Africa, amassed a grand coalition of states to support the resolution authored by Guyana. Every other CSS delegation joined in, as well as over 15 who were not of our delegation. Much to the disappointment of Owen and Damon, Guyana's large and encompassing resolution failed by a mere three votes in the GA. Instead, the Assembly passed a resolution sponsored by their rivals, Russia and Rwanda, that was far less specific in its implementation. Argentina, however, represented by Quinn A., Hayden A., Grayson T., was able to add an important operative clause to the the hostile resolution despite being allied with Guyana. Unfortunately, the CSS delegations did not win any awards in small councils. However, our Guyana delegation of Owen and Damon won first place in the General Assembly, which included all students in BratMUN. After finishing BratMUN and saying goodbye to our new friends, we all went to historic Old Town Bratislava to see the sights. We were able to visit the medieval Bratislava Hrad, the seat of the Hungarian kings of Slovakia for 400 years. It has been a successful, but stressful day of council. In the morning, we concluded individual councils. Kristen G. and Quinn Adam passed a resolution in UNEP, Alex M. and Jessica C. passed a resolution in the IAEA, and India L. passed a resolution in the UNHRC. All the CSS delegates and the European students were then moved together into the General Assembly, where the new topic of debate was Accountability of UN Officials on Duty. The debate was quite intense and things became quite heated late in the council when the delegation of Russia became embroiled in a bitter argument with the CSS delegation of Guyana (Owen M. and Damon D.) over Russia's aggressive blocking of the Guyanese resolution. Unfortunately Guyana's resolution was never debated tonight, but dinner with the team from Budapest's International School was productive in coming up with ways to resolve the impasse in the UNGA. Stay tuned for more news from the General Assembly! Bratislava's model United Nations meet has been quite successful for every member of our team. Early Friday morning, the delegates of all the teams gathered in the assembly hall of the Pan-European University in Bratislava to listen to speeches by the Polish and Turkish ambassadors to Slovakia as well as a representative from the Vienna International Centre of the UN. All of these speakers, despite disagreeing on certain topics, such as the efficiency of the Security Council, agreed that the United Nations is the key to world security and future prosperity. Once in our councils, we began working on solutions to a wide variety of issues, including the storage of spent nuclear waste (Alex M., Jessica C.), the financial situation in the European Union (Andrea S., Ethan T., Owen M.), women's rights (India L.), the legalisation of medical marijuana (Damon D., Davis C., Grayson T.), terrorism (Hayden A.), and the environmental impact of a changing Arctic (Kristen G., Quinn A.). Many of our delegates wrote resolutions or working papers, which we hope to pass tomorrow. A gallery of pictures is below: We finished council for the day, then proceeded to a pizza restaurant downtown. Tired and hungry after a long day of debate, a pizza for everyone was clearly in order. After spontaneously belting out a rousing chorus of a Whitney Houston song on the Slovak radio, we each ordered a pirogy, a delicious chocolate-filled dessert. We are finally in Bratislava, Slovakia, after two tedious days of travel, three flights, and two bus rides. At 4:30 AM, we departed CSS to Denver International Airport and a flight to Atlanta. After a 3-hour connection in Atlanta, we flew to Paris, and were pleasantly surprised to find a vast selection of movies in our headrest screens. Our 8-hour flight was thus no trouble at all. After sprinting through Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, we boarded an 3-hour flight to Vienna, Austria. Upon landing in Vienna, we took an hour on a bus to Bratislava, Slovakia, our final destination. We checked in at the Hotel Astra, where we are staying, and proceeding to tour Bratislava. Assisted by our incredibly helpful high school guide, Sasha, we visited the city's central square as well as the Danube River. Small shops lined the plaza, and a small, beautiful park full of fall-coloured trees provided valuable relaxation after our journey. The juxtaposition of communist history and modern economic development seems to be present everywhere in Bratislava, where Warsaw Pact concrete architecture frequently gives way to modern malls and business centres. The fascinating pre-Cold War historical buildings contribute to an interesting balance in the atmosphere. Visiting the Danube River, we were all impressed by the level of historical significance the mighty river possesses. The former boundary of countless empires, it is the longest river in Europe, and now serves as a major trade corridor for Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Tomorrow we begin council! We are all very excited.
|
Archives
February 2017
Categories
All
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram! |