Back from Brussels (for a few days already...) :D My team got 9th out of 67 others, which I'm pretty proud of since none of us are smarty Koreans or Japanese! Individually I got a score of 82 out of a possible 160 and my sis got 97. And compared to those Koreans, we're pretty lousy since they get about 130+? BUT never mind. I heard Koreans have the highest IQ average in the world or sth like that. >< Yup, Brussels was pretty fun; watched a lot of UK rugby matches and I think I kind of prefer watching rugby to football now because there's so much more action! :P Sadly, we didn't get much time to go shopping so we returned home with no Belgian chocs... :/ So that was my time in Brussels. :)

Next, I have a load of projects flowing in again. I guess it'll be worse during the IB, which I'll be starting in August. (It doesn't seem that far away!! :O) Oh and on Monday I had my college and IB consultation with the college councillor. Mr Bowen was pretty nice and very knowledgeable. As usual, I'm the undecided kid here who just listed Medicine, Law, International Relations and Business Administration as my interested career choices. Haha. -.- So he had to help me break down my interests into possible IB subjects. Well if I go to the US, none of this would be that applicable since US universities only care about the SAT and SAT subject tests. So, for Medicine in UK, I need to have Biology, Chemistry and Maths at higher level (HL). Then for Law in UK, I need Eng Literature and History at HL. IR and BA perhaps Economics but these courses are not as particular. So... great. I suck at Lit. Can't even get the top grade for MYP currently at Grade 10 level, so I might as well rule out Eng Lit HL because I would be killing myself.

And in the end, I settled with BCME at HL, Eng Language and Literature SL, Spanish ab initio SL. So, 4 HLs to start with, drop 1 later because I only need 3. TSK then I wouldn't know which to drop. :/ Okay if Maths gets too hard, I'll drop to Maths SL.

Well I'm still pondering if it's the right decision to take Eng Lang and Lit or Eng Lit. The difference is that Eng Lang and Lit contains more media and culture-based aspects with some literature too, whereas Eng Lit is fully literature and close analysis of texts.

My father wants me to go to the US. But that means I have to get financial aid or a scholarship because it's soooooo expensive.

Basically I've ruled out Law in the UK.
And I'm not that passionate for Medicine. Yet.
And the deadline for submitting my IB subject combination is on Valentines' Day.

Sigh I'm confused. :(

Won't have much time to think over this weekend as it's Basel MUN. I'm delegate of Lebanon in Security Council. Discussing issues over the Chinese naval expansion over the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. (I seriously think Lebanon doesn't care much over this issue. Or at least I haven't done enough research...)

The Enchanting Twilight

Labels: Brussels, IB subjects, MUN

OMG, PARIS WAS SO FUN! Yay I shall recount the whole trip.

Day 1: Opening of Paris MUN Conference in the UNESCO building in Paris. It sounds really grand, doesn't it? :P Broke into committee sessions. I was in Political Committee and the topic for the first day is 'Criminal Accountability for UN Mission Officials'. Sounds difficult, is difficult. During informal caucus, we have to get other delegates to sign our clauses so that our clauses can have a chance to be posted up and debated. Since I'm a first-timer and there're some really pro people around, my clauses didn't get posted up, but I tried. :) On the first day, I didn't really get to speak much because the country I'm representing (Mozambique) is not that powerful and also because I needed time to "get the hang of" understanding weird clauses.

Night of Day 1 was the Social Event at Le Duplex (an underground nightclub next to l'Arc de Triomphe which is so cool). This Social Event is for everyone to mix and get to know each other, which wasn't working to well for me and my group since we were kind of shy at first. I actually met a Singapore group (I think they're from Anderson JC or sth)! I couldn't believe it when I heard a few Asian people speaking in an accent so familiar to me. Then I asked them, are you people from Singapore? And they're like, YES! Are you from Singapore too? Hahaha. Then I wandered about further, and this Indian suddenly screamed into my face, ARE YOU FROM SINGAPORE?! And I was like, omg, yes, you look like one of my seniors from MGS! And she went, yeah I'm from MGS! Haha, small world indeed! Found out that she'd graduated and went to London to study and her school came to participate in PAMUN too. ;D
OH we were really hesitant about dancing on the crowded dance floor, but Oliver was saying, What's the point of being here if we're not going to try that (*points to dance floor*)? Haha. So Oliver, Zachary, Andrew, Cecilia and I went in and TRIED to dance. It was so crowded and hot because of the number of people, omg. And it was blurry in the middle of the floor because of the disco lights. So yeah, I could hardly move because everyone (except my group) was so wild and knocking into me. We were in the middle of the floor, and we were like, now what? And Zach said, uh, get into the rhythm and jump on the spot. Right, that's basically what we did. I got quite high after that WITHOUT drinking any alcohol. :P

Day 2: Topic is 'Ensuring Climate Change does not lead to conflict'.(Conflict as in political conflict.) Personally, I think this topic is easier than the first one. I got to speak more on this day because it involves Mozambique more. The chair called me out to present my policy statement at the start of the session and I wasn't expecting it, so I felt quite nervous standing at the podium in front of 120+ delegates... But it went okay. :) There was a 'Crisis' session, which means the committee is presented with an unexpected new topic, and for my committee it was 'Addressing the conflict between Israel and Palestine'. I had hardly any background knowledge on this topic, so I just listened to the whole debate and voted eventually. :P

Night of Day 2 was spent wandering on the Champs-Elysees. I only walked a really small section on the long, wide expensive shopping trip due to time constraints. A group of 8 of us ate together for dinner in a Japanese restaurant. I was hoping for good sashimi but the fish didn't taste the freshest. Oh well. Most of my friends ordered fried ramen because they either don't like or can't believe we can eat raw fish. Hahaha.

Day 3: General Assembly debate in the UNESCO main hall with about 900 delegates present. :O Didn't get to speak at all of course. Oliver (representing Ghana) got the chance to speak at the podium and we were so happy at least one of us could speak. Heh. After that, it was the Closing ceremony where several delegates were awarded the Best Delegate Award for their committee. Andrew was voted the Best Dressed in his committee. Haha. Oh, Jay, Andrew, Zachary and I represented Mozambique altogether in the GA. :)

The Enchanting Twilight

PS: I shall name all 13 of us who went for PAMUN for memories.
Grade 9: Ashley, Eric, Ben, Rohan, Willian, me
Grade 11: Andrew, Jay, Cecilia, Georgia, Prianka
Grade 12: Oliver, Zachary

Labels: MUN

Wheee... Off to Paris tomorrow night until Sunday! :D For an MUN conference. How fun. Well, it'd better be fun because my parents spent a bomb on my TGV ticket and delegate fee. The country I got is Mozambique, not a very interesting country, and I'm set to be in the Political Committee. 2 issues for discussion: Criminal Accountability of UN mission officials and Ensuring Climate Change doesn't lead to Conflict. DIFFICULT. And it's my 1st MUN conference, so I'm really hoping I'll get to speak at least once in front of the committee, or else the whole session will be really boring. And I did my research on my dear Mozambique (the information wasn't easy to find as it's not a really big powerful country). I wrote my position papers too. Well, in all, I did a lot of work for this conference so I'd better get something in return!

Dress code: smart FORMAL. I had to rummage my wardrobe for formal dresses. Finally I end up borrowing several clothes from my sister. Haha. And borrowing my mother's make-up kit. :P That reminds me, I haven't actually finished packing. OH and I haven't charged the camera...Okay, I should go.

Christmas hols are in 2 weeks' time! Looking forward! :D

The Enchanting Twilight

PS: I can't believe the MOELC French immersion students are now in Bordeaux!! So near and yet so far...! :/

Labels: MUN, Paris