Jumping out of the comfort zone
Coming to SCIE was an unexpected and temporary decision. In fact, I didn’t really consider the option of leaving my previous school, as I became used to it after studying there for 7 years. Not long before the entrance exam, my parents suffered asked me if I wanted to take the exam. Coincidentally, several friends were planning to come, and I saw an intriguing design diagram of the newly built Antuoshan campus, hence I decided to give it a try and successfully got in.
My former friends thought I would be studying sciences, but I loved novelty and adhered to the concept of “coming here is coming”, hence I chose several humanities courses that I had never studied before. Surprisingly, these subjects turned out to be interesting and not as hard as I heard from seniors, and I ultimately became a humanities student.
Finding passion
I have always had the habit of wanting to read my script word for word for a speech, which often led to me being in a state of self-immersion during my speeches. This didn’t change until I lacked time to produce a script for my opening speech for a Model United Nations (MUN) conference when I was in G1. I approached the podium and simply improvised.
At first, I appeared calm but in reality, I felt a bit uneasy. Later on, as I spoke, my thoughts became smoother and I spoke with increasing confidence, as if standing under a spotlight, answering questions thrown by representatives from other countries with ease. At that moment, I felt like I had found myself, I felt blood surging in my body, and I felt like I was alive.
MUN is the only club that I have been involved in during my time at SCIE. At first, I attended as a delegate, and started to chair since G2. In A1 and A2, I also took part as a member of the leadership team, being the head of finance, playing a role in organizing SCIE’s own MUN conference.
At the last session of the MUN club, I felt unreal. Four years passed in just a flash. When I stepped down as the leadership group and gave a speech, I had a lot to say in my heart, but when it came to my mouth, all that remained was wishing the younger members of the club to keep being passionate about MUN and continue their journey with all might and courage. From now on, I may never have the opportunity to participate in this hobby that has been with me for six years.
This is the only club I have been in since middle and high school. I really enjoyed the feeling of standing behind the podium, talking incessantly, and my heart racing with excitement. I also enjoyed sitting straight, bang the gavel loudly and shout to the committee, “may the house now come to order”. Moreover, I loved being the head of finance of the MUN club and preparing SCIEMUN with friends.
As someone who is not particularly outgoing or extrovert, I would like to thank each and every MUN conference I attended, for it allowed me to meet so many new friends. I also want to express my gratitude to the leaders who have shared joys and sorrows, as well as to every friend and ally who stood by my side throughout my MUN journey.
Over the years, I have served as delegates of various countries, from large countries like China and USA, to smaller nations like Israel and Nicaragua. I have chaired conferences ranging from small committees of less than 20 delegates to General Assembly of about 70 delegates.
Even at this moment, I can still vividly recall that during the Cuban Missile Crisis on the Historical Committee, as the delegate of Cuba, I engaged in negotiations with the United States and the Soviet Union, using language techniques and asymmetric information to reach the optimal solution for Cuba; as the delegate of the United States on GA’s environmental issues, I faced attack from numerous delegates, but showed no fear and answered their POIs fluently; during resolution debate, I was able to persuade enough delegates to strike out all clauses of a draft resolution that was unfavorable to my country’s stance without using veto power.
As the chair of the Security Council, I quickly edited and improved the draft resolution, and succeeded in squeezing out time to play the Werewolf game with the entire Council; when I and my cochair announced a crisis topic, the alarm was a bit too loud and attracted a teacher to come over to see what was happening…
I will always remember the sleepless nights when Guangzhou when I drafted an entire draft resolution on my own, the brilliant, magnificent fireworks in the sky accompanied by the sound of waves in Parklane harbour, the cold wind and drizzle in Hangzhou, and the leaves that fall in each autumn when the SCIEMUNs were held.
If all of this, the greatest joy of my joys must have a deadline, I hope it can be ten thousand years.
Lacking a bit of luck
To be honest, I always thought I had a clear understanding of my luck. I could still play rock-paper-scissors, but I never participated in activities such as lottery or lucky draws.
However, it has been proven that I still overestimated myself – the summer before A2 was an extremely unlucky one for me. I was traveling in the Middle East, and one morning I was a few meters away from the shooting range which I was excited to go to, when I accidentally sprained my right ankle. The pain from the ankle was so intense that it made tears involuntarily roll down my cheeks.
I went to the hospital, the doctor looked at the X-ray photo of my ankle and told me that I broke my ankle and needed to have surgery after my ankle was not so swollen. As a result, I had to rely on a wheelchair for three whole months, and had to attend rehabilitation therapies for three more months. I am extremely grateful from the bottom of my heart to every friend who took care of me during the days when I couldn’t walk as usual.
And all of this coincided with the application season. Not only that, when there were only three or four days left before deadline, I asked my previous economics teacher to help me have a look at my personal statement. I found that I needed to start from scratch for an entirely new version; on the day of my Oxford interview, I suddenly caught a cold, and the WiFi was lagging for one of the interviews. On the day the Oxford results were released, I expected that I would be rejected.
Never mind. After all, imperfection is the norm in life, and it is through facing failures and reflecting regrets would I be able to become a better version of myself. At least this is not the true endpoint, at least I am still on my way, at least I can still look forward to tomorrow’s journey.
- Article / Minnie
