I was pleasantly surprised with the experience I had during the Model U.N simulation. I was hesitant at first, mostly because I didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t sure if I was well prepared, but I’m very happy that I had the opportunity to participate.

            The part that I enjoyed the most was being able to write action orders for whatever our group wanted to do. It was fun to devise clever methods for attaining the items we wanted and pursuing our country’s national interests. I even had fun actually writing up the action orders. They allowed us to be as subversive as we wanted to, and to come up with actions that our country might actually take. The other part of the simulation that I enjoyed was the meetings we held with other countries. The debates and discussions I had with delegates from other countries definitely made the whole experience more engaging.

            I feel that the research that I did, both on Iran and my particular ministry (the ministry of intelligence), prepared me well for the simulation. That being said, if the other ministers in my group had not done their research, we would have been in serious trouble. The fact that everyone did his or her research was of great benefit to us. I would say that all of us relied on the research we performed to help us make decisions and write action orders at some point during the simulation. We were also greatly helped by the fact that our chair was extremely knowledgeable about the country and was quite enthusiastic throughout the process. The only part I wish I knew more about was how the actual simulation was run. It is easy to pick up the procedure once you start, but not knowing caused some apprehension beforehand.

            The action we took that I am most proud of was the action orders we wrote to attain nuclear capabilities. First, we reached out to the Chinese, who didn’t openly support our nuclear endeavor, but provided us with a shield from Western countries. Then, we devised many different ways to procure nuclear arms. I think, when it was all said and done, that we came up with four or five different ways to become nuclear, and we were shut down until the last one. We had to resort to finding a random nuclear warhead in the desert, but we were persistent in our attempts, and it paid off.

            The one thing I wish we had done more was to prepare ourselves to both attack and respond to attacks. We were so focused on gaining nuclear capability that we neglected our military responsibilities and left ourselves vulnerable to attack. We had a defense measure in place, but by the time we used it, it was to late to protect ourselves. We didn’t expect to be attacked, honestly, because we did not take direct military action against any country, nor were we openly hostile to any country. If we had prepared ourselves more fully militarily, we could have won the simulation.

            I very pleased that I had the opportunity to participate in this years’ Model U.N. simulation. I had a great time, and I feel like I learned much about the Middle East. I really hope that I have the opportunity to participate again n