The trip that opened the world to me

As I write this, I’m sitting in a General Assembly Committee at THIMUN in Hague. Every year, a delegation of 11th graders from our school are sent to attend and participate in this Model UN Conference, and this year I have the privilege to be a part of it. As prestigious as the MUN maybe, we, students were infinitely more excited for the international trip together than the conference itself. And seeing all the optimism and high hopes, I was extremely worried that this trip won’t live up to our expectations.

Four days in, and I’ve already been proven wrong. 

The past few days have probably been the best days that I’ve had in a long, long time. First of all, Hague is a beautiful town. It has quaint old buildings, cobblestone streets and an air of legislation that is extremely appealing.

And the cold. Only after I reached Hague did I realise how hopelessly unprepared I was for it. Back in Mumbai, my mother had screamed herself hoarse trying to get me to pack woollens, but obviously I didn’t listen. 

This was my first international trip from school, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to share this with. We were 20 delegates, and only four of us were girls. Every day we would wake up and eat breakfast at 7 am and leave for the Conference Centre by 8 am. From eight to five we would take part in the MUN, with brief breaks in between for lunch or snacks, and intervals where we would just get out of the committee to meet each other. After that, we would return to our hotel and spend time walking around the town, exploring, shopping and just generally relishing the beautiful cold weather. Dinner would be at a different restaurant every day. Then, we would chill in each other’s rooms playing childish games like Challenge or Mafia till our supervisor knocked on the door and sent each of us back to our own rooms. 

This trip showed me the importance of exposure. Having never been on a class trip before, I was surprised at the amount of freedom that was given to us, and the expectation that we were supposed to take care of ourselves.

We were given our own money to spend over whatever we wanted, given our own tram tickets and credit cards (optional, of course). We were free to walk around and do what we wanted as long as we came back and reported to the supervisor on time. At the conference itself, everyone was treated like an adult. No mollycoddling, no hand-holding, no sugarcoating. I interacted with such a diverse mix of people, and it was so easy to make friends with them! I learnt how to live with other people, how to deal with nervousness or anxiety, and how to ask for help. I learnt to take care of my belongings and be punctual. I learnt to have insane fun while getting an insane amount of work done. 

Hence, it’s my firm belief now that all schools should definitely do this. Take children out somewhere on class trips. For me, this trip helped me meeting and knowing a lot of brilliant people, and get closer to those I already knew. Although I will deny it to their face, I loved being around them 24/7, and the plethora of inside jokes, references, memories and madness are all a testament to it. 

Anusha Subramanian is a published author, caffeine lover and queen of procrastination.