Going to the USA has always been one of my dreams and it was so exciting for me when it became true. I was in New York City for a week from the 20th to the 28th of February. It was such an amazing experience because I didn’t go there just as a tourist but wearing the dresses of a UN delegate! If you want to know more about my journey, continue reading this post!
BEING A DELEGATE
BEING A DELEGATE
As I said, I went to NYC and I was one of
the young delegates that took part in the United Nations conferences.
Of course, it was just a simulation, but it was organized
as real UN conferences. There were people from Italy, USA, France and other
countries.
During these simulations you have to speak
in English in order to talk and debate with the other delegates, you have to
wear a formal dress and you feel like a real delegate. Each one represents a
nation and has to show the position of his/her own country. During the conference
I met a lot of people and we were inside the UN headquarters.
THE UN
As you know - well, I hope you know - the
United Nations is an international organization that was born in 1945, after
the 2ndWorld War, which has the aim of
maintaining peace, protecting natural and historical places and buildings,
guaranteeing that all the people have the same rights, guarantee security and so on. In my opinion this is one of the
best “things” men have created.
I am very interested in what the UN did and
does to help people. Of course, its goals are huge and difficult to achieve. There
is also something that doesn’t work properly, even in the UN, or there are things the UN could do but don’t, but I can assure you
that the UN have done and currently do a lot to achieve its aims, despite some
hurdles.
The UN consists of a lot of committees. Probably
you have heard about some of them as UNICEF, FAO or UNESCO, but there are a lot
of committees that aren’t so well known, for example:
·
UN WOMEN
·
UNHCR: Executive Committee of
High Commissioner's Programme
·
SOCHUM: Social, Humanitarian
and cultural committee
·
ECOFIN: Economical and
Financial committee
·
DISEC: Disarmament and
International Security
·
UNIFEM: United Nations
Developing Found for Women
·
WHO: World Health Organization
… and many others! Wow!
I was the delegate of Suriname, a nation
set in South America in SOCHUM committee. Each committee had to discuss about a
specific topic and our topic was the Economic development through the Education
of Young Women. I am very interested in this topic so I was very excited to discuss
about it. Obviously, it was difficult to talk with American of French guys, but
there were some very good Italian guys who did it successfully. I tried to do
my best, too and I am proud of what I did, especially because I helped write
some parts of our resolution. The resolution was a document that each group had
to write and it had to contain all the ideas and solutions we proposed to face
the problem described.
THE CITY OF THE CITIES
After this brief description of my experience
as a delegate, let me say something about my experience as a tourist! During that
week I visited a lot of important and popular places in New York City as the
Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building, some
important museums, Central Park, Wall Street, Times Square and other places.
I visited a lot of places but some will
remain in my heart forever: Times Square, Ground Zero, two museums, the MOMA
and the MET, because there I saw some
paintings by my favourite artists which I really wanted to see one day, for
example the Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh!
… and works by Picasso and Monet.
Being in Times Square was so exciting: it
was like being in a movie set in New York. All those lights everywhere… in
Times Square is always morning!!
Ground Zero is a memorial dedicated to the victims
of the Twin Towers attack happened on the
11th September 2001. It was so moving to be there! NYC is very chaotic and noisy, but around
Ground Zero there is a thunderous silence, because people go there to pray, to
remember and, often, to cry. It consists in two large and deep fountains that
want to represent the collapse of the towers and the fear that the people who
were inside felt on that tragic morning.
All the names of the victims are written on these two fountains.
Recently a museum has been opened near
Ground Zero, and if you go to NYC, I suggest you to visit it because it will be
a moving and intense experience. Unforgettable!
I’d like to tell you so much more but it’s time to go. I really hope you’ll manage to visit NYC as soon as possible to
live YOUR own American Dream!
BENNY
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