“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." said Oscar Wilde. I always liked to believe that I am among the people who are gazing at the shiny dots in the beautiful night sky. The winking lights which seemed to spell out my fate and future if I squinted at them hard enough.
    

Before  I get to the point, there are things that you must know about my country. Taiwan is a tiny island on the far west of the Pacific Ocean, miles away from the Western world. We try to go international, however, there are some controversial political issues on whether we are a real country. That is beyond my point here, what I wanted to say was, no matter what political stances we take, it is undeniable that we are deeply affected by the Chinese culture, therefore, the official language in our country is Chinese. A common phenomenon here is how people have polar opposite dramatic reactions towards Taiwanese English speakers. They either praise you with all their hearts or they despise you. Some deny this but that's exactly what I've personally experienced. Since this is such a disputable issue, let's just call it my personal background instead of something that's part of our "culture". I'm not here to discuss this problem right now though I am planning on writing an article on it some other time.

     That being said. Before fifteen, I wasn't shy or anti-social, nor did i have stage fright or anything of that sort. However, I would've been an absolute nobody if it weren't for the fact that I was loud and obvious because my best friends and I were a girl tribe who constantly chatted in English. To the rest of the school it was either miraculous or utterly obnoxious. Otherwise, I was completely invisible in the world of extracurricular activities. I didn't like to be held responsible for anything in public, not even for good things. I edited the school's English magazine but kept my own name out of it, putting my friends name as editor instead while I passed as "co-editor."
    

I believe that the most life changing moments of my life that contributed to who I am now is how I chose to spend my fifteenth and sixteenth birthday. And it’s not because I lost crazy weight or turned amazingly pretty, even though it would've been nice if that had happened.
    

On my fifteenth birthday, I wasn’t at a fancy birthday dinner but at GIS 2012. No, not Geography Information System, but Global Initiatives Symposium. There I met the most elite and creative graduates and undergraduates from all around the globe. We discussed into the night on our projects of designing products that could serve as feasible solutions to certain society problems. I first had my eyes opened to the unlimited possibilities of the world and actually started having the desire "to see and be seen." Above all, the people there led me into the world of Model United Nations(MUN).

     On my sixteenth birthday, I was in a relatively more birthday celebration kind of situation—at a soirée in a little black dress. However, it wasn’t my birthday party. It was the social event of HSMUN 2013, short for High School Model United Nations. Under the recommendations of the friends I met at GIS 2012, I went to my first MUN conference. There, I was submerged in a pure English environment, meaning that NO ONE gasped or made snarky comments when I spoke in English. It was incredibly liberating, unlike anything you could ever imagine. Finally, it wasn’t about what language I spoke in, but what I said. That, though, is far from the reason MUN changed my life for the better.

     MUN is a place where everyone actually cared about international news and affairs--very different from the people I usually get to meet at school. A place where each delegate is so competent it’s difficult to tell which one was better.There are students with one after another Ivy League early acceptances. Imagine sitting in a conference room, everyone dressed immaculately in western business attire, each representing a country while discussing a worldwide issue, trying to come up with a solution to a problem that even the world’s best diplomats and most revered experts cannot solve; attacking, defending, most important of all, compromising. Diplomacy, courtesy, a place where almost everyone (tries to) make the statement ‘ladies and gentlemen’ true. Researching, coming up with practical solutions, establishing consensus and drafting resolutions. For once, internet security, gender equality or the South China Sea dispute has something to do with YOUR decisions. Even though rather than deciding things according to your own opinion you have to speak and act entirely on the behalf of the country you represent, you are involved; even if your resolutions won’t be carried out by the actual UN in the end you’ve had your eyes opened to the different point of views and events in this world.

     We had heated debates that trained me to think faster. Also, representing countries that held different positions from my personal opinions enabled me to look things from different perspectives. At HSMUN 2013,  I absolutely fell head over heels for MUN. The same way any girl would be totally beyond herself on her first date with Mr. Darcy. (That is, if he really exists and without prejudice of course.)  It was summer, it was romantic and surreal, it also got hot and passionate but it was not a summer fling.

     If HSMUN 2013 was a memory beautified by my excitement as a first MUNer like how one might view a first date through rose tinted glasses, paging at PAMUN 2013 was the second date where you realize things are not the way you thought they were. They’re even better. Next, NYS 2014 was the kind of third date where you discover not only is this guy hot with nice abs (think Channing Tatum), and if he smolders again you might faint (think Ian Somerhalder), but he also understands you perfectly, is a suave gentlemen and all around awesome. Then it was YMUNT 2014, fourth date, he takes you to the best cupcake store instead of his favorite fancy restaurant because he knows that you love desserts. You figure that he’s a keeper and think “He is it.” (Wow, I just created the ultimate dream date, didn’t I?)

     Okay, so the last paragraph that got you drooling and melting was a description about MUN, not a man, sorry to disappoint you. I thought it was a pretty accurate metaphor. Now you get how I’m crazy about it.
    

With every MUN I attended, my habits and life gradually changed as well. My daily must-read went from Hollywood Life to The New York Times. Instead of simply chitchatting about the latest episode of How I Met Your Mother I started to talk about the latest international affairs.
     

Don’t let the above misguide you into thinking that we are boring and studies orientated. We can be incredibly fun. Ask any MUNer what his or her motto is. As far as I know, the mass of us seem to have reached a consensus: “Work hard, play HARDER.” so aside from seeing us composed and serious during committee sessions, you should also see us at the social events. Delegate dances always start off as a white tie occasion, a formal cocktail reception, delegates mingling and taking pictures. Or you can always go talk to that pretty girl you’ve been watching out for since day one. Then the music starts, the dance floor is opened and delegates start ballroom dancing. Before long, it’s party music blasting through the speaker. Girls are dancing in their dresses and stilettos, guys have their shirts pulled out of their pants and their jackets are nowhere to be seen. Sometimes you can catch delegates at bars or bistros on committee bar nights.
   

  I admit though, MUN can be sleep depriving. I barely sleep at all each time I attend MUN. It’s not like I needed any. Every MUN was like a four day long adrenaline rush for me, whereas I need no food and no sleep. (Bonus: weight loss!)

     After two years of being in the world of MUN, I am now one of the most active extra curricular activities participant at school. I’ve been the local representative of culture exchange visits several times, I was also chosen to represent the school at numerous competitions and am an in the process of establishing a MUN club at school, in hope that what helped me find importance in my own being can help more and more people. I take credit for my accomplishments and responsibility for my screw ups. These are things I would’ve never done before the year of 2013. So yes, I do believe that joining MUN was the best decision I've ever made.