MY-MUNOFS IX 2018 - Day 3, part II & Day 4

Saturday, March 3 & Sunday, March 4, 2018

During MY-MUNOFS IX, I was assigned to the delegation of UK in General Assembly One. During debate, our four main issues were: peaceful settlement of the South China Sea Dispute, limiting nuclear weapons to only 100 for each recognized "nuclear nation" (China, the US, Russia, France, and the UK) by 2025, ensuring that refugee children receive the full benefits of the UN Rights of the Child proclamation, and the creation of a convention to prevent the use of hacking or cyber-warfare. 

Although being selected to speak by the chairs is highly competitive, I did manage to contribute a substantial number of speeches, points of information, and amendments. Getting amendments passed is very challenging, as each comes up for debate and a vote among the entire committee, but of the six I submitted, one did finally pass. Despite this, writing speeches and amendments is surprisingly fun. Most delegates in my committee take MUN's protocols seriously, and were extremely professional and polite. Although there were some who were particularly obnoxious and annoying, none of them purposefully wanted to humiliate other delegates. Our debate process has been fruitful and productive, with all of the currently presented resolutions being passed already. I personally find creating amendments really fun and satisfying if they are good enough to be passed by the house. Several things I learned were that delegates were allowed to interrupt the house with points of personal privilege, and that non-parliamentary behaviour can result in the revoking of a delegate’s speech, as experienced by the delegate of the USA, who was being disruptive. At first, I was nervous that delegates might be more interested in simply proving other delegates wrong than in really addressing the issues. However, there were no such delegates in my committee. Tomorrow, I look forward to debating the 4 other resolutions, since we only got through 2 today. So far, it has been an enjoyable and educational conference experience, and I had many more opportunities this time to speak during debates. 

MUN is important to me because it not only builds your public speaking skills, but also leadership skills and confidence. It raises awareness on the real-world issues of today, and encourages delegates to think critically, diplomatically, and logically to solve them. It is highly unlikely that you’ll end the conference without making a few new friends, since most delegates are mature, professional, and polite. A few years in MUN will make you a great public speaker and leader in no time, so colleges like to see it on applications. MUN trips and conferences also give you a chance to travel with students and adults other than your parents, which give you a chance to be more independent and be responsible for some of your own decisions. All of these reasons are why I will continue to participate in MUN for as long as I can. 
~Jaden Soh, 7

During MY-MUNOFS IX, I was in Environment I, representing the United Kingdom. This meant that I was the UK’s voice, and that every action I made was supposed to attempt to benefit the UK. I had been dreading this conference for a long time because I was afraid of being judged by other delegates, and I worried there might not be foods available that I could eat or would like. Luckily, neither was true! Everyone was nice and very polite and well-mannered, and they offered frequent snacks and lunch. Some things I learned were that chairs actually weren’t that uptight and can be very understanding and knowledgeable, despite the intimidating image that they sometimes project. During this conference, I got to meet many new people, and I had a chance to learn about many current world issues I was not previously aware of. I feel like my IQ actually got higher! On the last day, I’m looking forward to concluding the debate with my new-found friends, as well as making my own speech about my topic. I had a lot of fun on this trip, and will always treasure these memories.
~Maleeha Keswani, 7

During MY-MUNOFS IX, I was assigned as a delegate of the United Kingdom in the Environment II committee. During debate, our issues were banning all illegal animal trade, reducing CO2, reducing the amount of fossil fuels being used, and gradually lowering the amount of non-biodegradable materials being used. I made 2 Points of Information, and submitted one amendment to a resolution. I learned about how we merge ideas and how to utilize note cards more effectively. MUN is important to me because it is one of the times I can talk about politics and other things that I have less opportunity to talk about in normal life. I found that everyone had different policies for their different countries. My personal accomplishment was that I made an amendment and I did a speech in front of other delegates in my committee. I was also excited about traveling without my parents, since it is my first time.

~Kevin (Kyunghyuk) Lee

This has been such a great conference, and I have been so impressed with all of our students! They have demonstrated patience, positive attitudes, enthusiasm, and have really challenged themselves to make the most of this experience. I was very pleased to see that all of them made an effort to speak and be fully engaged with their committees, and it is incredible to see them grow so much in just 3 short days! I had a wonderful time, and am extremely proud of our delegates. I am so lucky to have such great kids to work with, and I love watching them grow into young leaders. Looking forward to MYMUN XV!
~Ms J

MY-MUNOFS IX 2018 - Day 3, part I

Saturday, March 3, 2018

My name is Han Joo, and I am representing the United Kingdom in the Security Council, along with my good friend, Julius. The Security Council discusses topics such as, "Immediate Response to Cyber Attacks", and the "Authorization of the Investigation of Chemical Weapons in Syria". One thing that happened during the debate today was that there were so many questions to the Chair, who moderates the whole discussion, (these are also known as POIs, or Points of Information, and are basically an opportunity for a delegate to speak to the Chair or another delegate, generally to ask a question or request). I don’t know if the other delegates were not used to the system of the Security Council, but there were a lot of POIs! Something I found really interesting were the P5 Caucuses. A P5 Caucus is a private discussion between the five permanent voting members of the Security Council: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They were more intense than any other discussions we had - so intense that chairs had to moderate the private discussion. Just taking the time to sit quietly and observe the debate was very exciting as well. That is something I am very looking forward for tomorrow - more intense debates! In addition, I learned about Security Council procedure, which turns out to be a little different than General Assembly (another important committee) procedure. One main difference is that the Security Council uses ‘clause by clause’ debate (debating one solution at a time), and General Assembly uses ‘resolution as a whole’ debate (debating all the solutions at once). This is my second MY-MUNOFS in middle school so far, and everything has been great; people at the conference are kind, and this is great for developing our MUN skills for other upcoming conferences, such as MYMUN. MUN helped me grow my confidence in public speaking, as well as communicating and negotiating with others to reach an agreement.
~Han Joo Kim, 8

Together with my partner, Han Joo, I represented the United Kingdom in the UN Security Council. The UN Security Council's mission is to maintain international peace and security. Today we talked about solutions for world problems, like “Authorization for an investigation of chemical weapons in Syria” and “Immediate response to cyber attacks”. One accomplishment I achieved today, was asking a point of information (POI). My goal was to ask multiple POIs, but unfortunately, I did not get recognized by the chair as many times as I hoped, or my POI was answered by another delegate before I got the opportunity to state it. We had some very experienced people in my committee, which led to some heated debate, and was very fun to watch. One interesting and fun thing that I experienced today was "veto power". Being one of the P5 nations (the five permanent voting nations in the Security Council, and the only ones who have veto power) made voting ‘for’ and ‘against’ a lot harder, as you do not want to use veto power all the time, hence we ‘abstained’ from voting most of the time. Multiple times during debate we had what is called the “P5 caucus” , which is basically a meeting for only the P5 nations. During these meetings, we discussed how we were going to vote and what our stance on the issue was. One thing I learned today was that you have to be careful when you make your speech, as other delegates can easily turn something against you. One thing I especially was nervous about was making my opening speech, as it was in front of a lot of people. When I walked up to the podium and got ready to speak, I was both scared and nervous, but when I first got to talk my nervous started to relax and I felt confident again. One thing I’m really excited about for tomorrow is debating the resolution I created with my fellow delegates. So far, my experience has been great. I have gained a lot of new friends (Instagram followers) and gotten a better understanding of MUN procedure. MUN is important for me because it helps me to gain better public-speaking skills, confidence, learn how to negotiate to find agreements that benefit all sides, and of course, getting better at debating!
~Julius Lehmann

Hi, my name is Autumn Lourdes Gilmore. I am in grade 6, which means that this is my first conference. This conference is in Singapore, at the school Overseas Family School (OFS).  I am in the committee for UNICEF, which stands for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. In this committee, we are talking about 4 topics, which are: reducing child labor, preventing the spread of cholera, ending the practice of underage marriage, and measures to advance educational opportunity and access for children with disabilities. If you don’t know what cholera is, it is a disease that can be passed on to other people or communities by the water they drink, often from rivers. Here is a video about cholera if you would like to know more about it. 

I have had several accomplishments, but my main accomplishments were on the first day of debate, where I did 2 speeches on my first day! Overall, the conference was good because it helped me improve things that I wasn’t sure about; even if I was bad at first, after 1 speech I started improving my speaking skills. I got better and better after each time I spoke up to make a speech or POI, which means "Point of Information". MUN is important to me because it helps me overcome challenges such as speaking in front of a bunch of people or delegates. Another reason why MUN is important to me is because you will get to see other delegates perspectives or opinions about different problems in the world. I am going to leave you with a quote by John F. Kennedy, which states, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future”
~Autumn Gilmore, 6

MY-MUNOFS is a 3-day conference that took place at Overseas Family School in Singapore. When on the bus to take us from the hotel to the conference, I took deep breaths and told myself to stay calm. Once I got off the bus, I was nervous and sweaty. I had already gone to the workshop and the meet and greet the previous day, so I already knew most of the people who were in my committee, ECOSOC II (Economic & Social Council, 2nd Committee). I was representing the United Kingdom, which meant I was going to debate in the UK’s stance on a variety of world issues. After I found the room, my committee would debate in, I took a seat and the chairs did a roll call. Now it would soon be time to do our opening speeches! An opening speech is like a short speech (about 1 minute long) that basically introduces yourself, the issues you are focusing on and your country’s stance. Speaking order was alphabetical, so I was the third to the last delegate to give a speech. MORAL OF THIS STORY: Being last just makes you nervous until the end. Next time, if possible, just get it over with! The opening speeches went well, and afterward we started the lobbying process in order to merge and create resolutions to the issues we would be debating. I was paired with two 8th graders and two 9th graders. After working on the resolution for a little more than an hour, we had a break and came back. After finishing with lunch and coming back to finish the resolution, we were finally going to start debating. Our first debate was on the issue of fishing quotas. During this debate, I made two points of information (POIs) and an amendment that passed! After this we had another break, and then we started our second debate on the topic of women's rights. As this was not my main topic, I only managed two get three points of information out. Overall, the meeting was fun and definitely was a great learning experience. 

~Leon Ritz, 6

MY-MUNOFS IX (March 1-4, 2018) - Days 1 & 2

On Thursday, 1 March, we left school around 13:15, and headed off to KLIA2. We arrived in good time, and made it through security with plenty of time to grab some lunch or a snack, which was a good thing, because we got a bit held up with taking-off! 

We made our way to our gate and boarded smoothly, but it soon became clear that we weren't taking off on time. Security personnel came onto the flight and explained that there had been a woman who had checked luggage on the plane, but now didn't want to board, though we do not know why she did not want to board. It is probable she was simply a nervous flyer. Security needed to make sure all the luggage on board matched the passengers - a routine safety procedure that, of course, we are glad that they take. They were taking it VERY seriously on this day, and that may also have been due to the PM being in town. They left, but soon returned and did a more thorough inspection to ensure that each bag had an owner. They left again, but before long they returned a third time, and asked everyone to take all their belongings and disembark the plane, which we did. This time they inspected the entire plane, and then we boarded again. 

Unfortunately, this meant that we had missed our turn on the runway, so we had to wait for another opening. After sitting on the tarmac for a bit longer, we finally took off at 19:10 (our original take off had been 16:50). However, the students were all very patient and took this in stride, and the flight was pretty short and uneventful. Upon arriving in Singapore, we were met by our bus and taken to our hotel, the YWCA Canning Fort Lodge. We dropped off our luggage, and dashed to a nearby mall for some dinner. It was quite late, and most places were closing, so we made do with some Burger King for our first night. Finally, we got back to our rooms, and everyone showered and relaxed before bed.

On Friday morning, we enjoyed our one opportunity to sleep in a bit, as we did not have to be at the conference until around 13:00. Students had the full morning to work on some homework and practice their opening speeches, and all of them were pretty diligent about this, heading down to the lobby so they could work together on some sofas and use the stronger internet connection. Mr Godfrey and Ms J picked up some lunch for everyone, and then we waited for our bus to the conference. There was a slight misunderstanding with bus timings, so we were picked up a bit late, but soon arrived at the Overseas Family School. Our students were all very smartly-dressed and headed off to their committee workshops looking like old pros, despite this being the first conference for 4 of our 7 delegates. 

Everyone had a good day in their workshops, learning some of the finer points of committee etiquette and debate procedure. Many of them thought the skill-building workshops had been very helpful, felt more prepared, less nervous, and ready to jump in the following day. Everyone was pretty tired, so we went back to the hotel and changed clothes so we could head out to dinner. Following dinner, students went to their rooms to prepare for the early start the next morning.

This morning, Saturday, students all arrived downstairs and ready for the bus, looking refreshed, dapper, and ready for action. They headed off to their committees ready to give their opening speeches. Mr Godfrey and Ms J will be heading around to various committees throughout today to try to catch them in action.

At the morning break, we met up with everyone to check in. Maleeha said she was relieved to have done her opening speech, and felt it went well. Kevin felt he'd rushed his a bit, but learned a lot, and will be much calmer the next time. They all headed back to their committees to continue lobbying and working toward submitting resolutions to the various world issues of focus.

Just some reminders, you can find any contact information for us on our MY-MUNOFS itinerary.

More to come!
~Ms J & Mr Godfrey

KLMUN Day 2 Stretching our Comfort Zone

Second day of KLMUN arrived with everyone ready to go...suits pressed, shoes shined, smiles on!

There are four committees at this small conference. The General Assembly with our very own Chirag as the President. Prue and Grant are delegates from the United Arab Emirates and Finland. Prue was the main submitter of one of the first resolutions. Her resolution focused on providing safety precautions for extreme weather i.e. Tsunami warning systems due to Climate Change passed!!

 

Another committee is the Human Rights Council with Stephanie as the President. Fir who represented Iraq as a first time delegate, did an excellent job stepping out of her comfort zone by asking many POI's. 

 

ECOSOC (the Economic and Social Council) had Izzy as the President. Thibault as France and Jay as Russia had an action-packed day with Jay's resolution about Renewable Energy being passed.  Way to go Jay!!

The final committee, Disarmament, had Jane as the President. Shane, representing the Republic of Korea and Joon, representing Syria had a challenging day as they discussed Chemical Weapon Use in Syria. Joon stepped up to the challenge and represented his country well with Shane speaking against Chemical Warfare.

 

This local conference has given our chairs and delegates a perfect opportunity to put their MUN skills to work. All of the committees  have our students proudly serving as President, two of the committees had our delegates as main submitters and every one of our students spoke several times throughout the day. This has been an excellent day and one that we should all be proud of.

THIMUN 2018 - Day 8

Saturday, February 3, 2018

Today marks our last day in The Netherlands, and we all got up to have a leisurely breakfast together and reflect on the week's most fun events. We all then finished packing, checked out, and stored our luggage at the hotel so we could go on one final outing to Delft on the tram.

Although it was very grey and drizzled for most of the day, we still had a great time looking at the square, cathedrals, and shops. Delft is very beautiful! Everyone loaded up on cheese and stroopwaffles to take home, bribing Ryan and Victor to carry the goods in their lighter checked baggage. We stopped for some hot cocoa, and everyone tried some bitterballen, a delicious traditional Dutch snack which can be described as balls of breaded and fried gravy served with mustard.

Since it was cold, we stopped at another restaurant not long after to have our club lunch together before heading back to the hotel to collect our luggage, most of us having to do some repacking to stash away our souvenir loot. We were finally on the bus and headed back to the airport! 

This past week has been an amazing conference, and I have been so proud to see how much all of our students have grown as chairs and delegates. I am sad that this will likely be my last THIMUN conference, but I am very pleased to know that Jane and Stephanie will carry the torch next year at M'KIS, as they have proven themselves to be incredibly capable young women. Victor might even introduce MUN to his new school in Denmark, which would be an exciting project for him! Ryan will likely have opportunities to go to some of the same conferences we've attended in Singapore next year, and if not, perhaps he too will spread MUN to his new school. Regardless, the skills and friendships they have cultivated over the past several years will last a lifetime, and I have been exceedingly proud of all of them.

- Ms Andi Januskiewicz

THIMUN 2018 - Day 7

Friday, February 2, 2018

With a day full of passionate debate and lighthearted laughter, the closing ceremony marked the end of the 50th THIMUN conference. The day started off just like the last four: a briefing with the other student officers, some quick announcements for the delegates, and clauses with the entire committee. Today, however, was the last of this annual conference. My committee, the Historical Security Council of the Year 1968, was a committee that I am proud to say that I have chaired due to the level of passion and diplomacy the delegates took on. Throughout the past four days, the 30 delegates and Arthur, my president, Davina, my other deputy president, and I have gotten to know each other much better. We could have casual banter, and had a couple of committee inside jokes by the end of the debate. We focused on our last issue throughout the day, which was the "situation in Mexico" in 1968. The entire session flowed smoothly and productively, much like the past four days. With free time at the end, we read out the gossip box filled with notes that had accumulated throughout the last two days, and did superlatives for the delegates with categories like “most likely to join the UN” and “best accent”. The closing ceremony was bittersweet and wrapped up the conference as we listened in on speeches from the committee Presidents, Deputy Secretary Generals (DSGs), and Secretary General (SG). After the final chair debrief, we all said our sad goodbyes, but were hopeful we might see each other again. THIMUN has been a conference where I’ve learned many more chairing skills and their applications, as well as being able to meet so many new people. I couldn’t possibly explain just how many memorable moments have occurred on this trip, it has been a blast!

- Jane Chea

Today was the final day of the 50th annual session of the THIMUN conference, an all the delegates in my committee had a chance to speak. It was also the day many delegates showed their true colours, which sparked controversy, and humour. Sadly, today was also the day the closing ceremony was held, which marked the end of the conference. Today started off with the first resolution on urbanisation, and because of many convincing speeches, the resolution unfortunately failed. We debated three resolutions, two of which had the same fate. Throughout the week, we all managed to become closer socially. As the final day neared, many delegates took the chance to make rather funny but undiplomatic speeches, which surprisingly were sometimes very convincing. The final issue was on food waste, and regardless of the many attempts to get the house to vote against it, it managed to pass. It was great to end the conference on a good note. Overall, the week was great and it was a very good experience for me, as it was my first conference out of Asia, and I got to meet lots of new people from different places and with difference cultures. With roughly 20 minutes left, the chairs read from the gossip box, which contained rather cheesy MUN pickup-lines and jokes, and many amendments as many people mistook the gossip box as a box for amendments. We also exchanged contact information with each other, which was great as we could still continue talking to each other even though many of us might not meet each other in person again. After, we all went to the closing ceremony, which was a bittersweet end to the conference. I was sad, as I knew I won’t be meeting a lot of the friends I made again, as many of them would be graduating and moving on to college or university, or it would be a long time before I would get to see them again, as their schools don’t go to conferences far from their country. However, I was glad to have taken part in this conference. It taught me a lot of new methods of debating, writing speeches, and I am glad to have met so many new people in this conference. No other conference I have attended created this many memorable moments, especially when we would start cheering support for the delegates of the DPRK and Germany when they would go up to make a speech due to their controversial positions. Again, I am very glad to have attended this conference, and I am saddened by the fact that this possibly could be my last THIMUN, but it was a fun trip, and the conference was a blast!

- Ryan Chua

With today being the final day of THIMUN 50, I can gladly say that this conference was one of the best MUN experiences I have ever had. The day began with the last morning student-officer briefing of the conference, with lively debate, just as we had experienced over the past four days, continuing in the Special Conference II. As we got to the end of debate with the final resolution to be debated, my co-presidents and I decided to try something different - we tried to encourage delegates who had not spoken to do so, in order to make the most of their THIMUN experience, by calling for more relaxed and shorter speeches for a short period of time in debate. This was done in order to make delegates feel more comfortable and confident in voicing their stances during debate. With a positive response from both experienced delegates and delegates who had never spoken before, I truly realized the degree of trust and respect that had been developed and fostered in the Special Conference II over the past five days. After debate was over, my co-presidents and I proceeded to read out notes from the Gossip Box that we looked through at lunch, which was very enjoyable for everyone and a great end to a wonderful conference. We then proceeded to the closing ceremony, where we listened to speeches from the Presidents of each committee, the Deputy Secretaries-General, and the Secretary General. Finally, all the student officers attended the final chair debriefing after the closing ceremony. This was a very bittersweet experience, as I had to say goodbye to the friends I had made and spent the past five days with over the course of this conference. However, we all hoped to meet again, whether it be in university, or even in another upcoming conference. Overall, I had an incredible experience at THIMUN this year, from learning how to progress in my chairing skills to making new friends. I had a wonderful time, and I will always remember this experience!

- Stephanie Kannimmel

Today finished off with a bang! Debate was more heated today than it had ever been, with many new delegates making speeches, and regular speakers making very moving and effective speeches, and some Points of Information (POIs) calling out a lot of people. The session today was perhaps not the most productive, but definitely the most entertaining. The World Health Organization (WHO), miraculously managed to gain sovereignty in order to house refugees and the land would be provided by Nicaragua. It was almost a unanimous vote for the amendment, and subsequently the resolution. The World Bank, who sat next to me, also managed to submit about 15 pick-up lines to the Gossip Box, but for some reason, the chairs only read out about one or two of them. As it was the last day of the week and the conference, understandably, many delegates were uneasy, and Morocco, who had been sending “notes” to other delegates throughout the conference, was getting called out a lot in many of the speeches made by new speakers. Among some of the other delegates who were getting called out were; Zambia for many, many reasons, Dominica, simply because he is unintentionally hilarious and sometimes a bit offensive, again unintentionally, France, for simply making some outrageous claims and statements, among which were “refugees don’t remember their home countries.” When the closing ceremony came around, I was sitting with some of my friends, and then the flag parade finally came around, where everything went according to plan apart from when we went further upstage. It really caught me by surprise, as I wasn’t really paying attention, and I was just kind of doing my thing, and suddenly I just see the whole group move forward. Overall, this conference is definitely one of the best, if not the best, that I have ever been to.

- Victor Skjoldby

THIMUN 2018 - Day 6

Friday, February 2, 2018

With today being the fourth day of the conference, everything was in full swing with lively debate, sorting out things that came up in committees, and presentations by some incredible guest speakers throughout the day. Debate in my committee, where I (Stephanie) serve as one of the Deputy Presidents of the Special Conference on Building Civil Society Through Education (SCBCSTE), continued to be lively and engaging, with delegates submitting countless constructive amendments and always eager to make speeches. The Special Conference is a committee that focuses on the theme of the conference, with issues specifically chosen and curated to explore this theme. Therefore, being a student officer chairing the Special Conference at the 50th annual session of THIMUN has been a great honour and an incredibly interesting experience.

The conference today also went well for Deputy President of the Historical Security Council, Jane, who said she enjoys chairing a smaller committee that is knowledgeable and passionate about the issues being discussed. Ryan, representing the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Sustainable Development II, commented on interesting (yet questionable!) points raised by other delegates within his committee during debate.

In addition to fruitful debate occurring in committees today, there were also insightful presentations held by two guest speakers throughout the day. The first presentation, given by Her Royal Highness Princess Mabel, discussed the goals and vision of the organization Girls Not Brides. Being a human-rights activist, HRH Princess Mabel discussed how Girls Not Brides aims to address and eradicate the issue of child marriage by changing the mindsets of people who see child marriage as a societal norm. The second presentation, by two medical students from England, discussed their work on behalf of the charity Naya Qadam Trust in creating prosthetic limbs for impoverished amputees in Bangladesh, using local materials, such as drain pipes and rubber tires. Both presentations were profound and inspiring, reminding us all that we can and should do anything we set our minds to, and that young people do not need to wait for "someday when..." to make a difference.

We are all looking forward to a great last day of the conference tomorrow!

- Stephanie Kannimmel

THIMUN 2018 - Day 5

Today has traditionally been a half-day for the conference so that delegations can have a chance to see some sites around The Hague. Despite that, we remained productive through the half day. We debated the situation of the Biafra region of Nigeria, and have begun lobbying on the situation in Czechoslovakia. Both issues took place in the year 1968, as the committee I am chairing is the Historical Security Council.

After the half day of intense and passionate debate, we (Ms. J, Mrs. Fidalgo, Victor, Ryan, Stephanie, and I) traveled down to the central part of The Hague to do two activities.

First, we went to the Prison Gate Museum. Here, we saw how they kept prisoners in the Middle Ages and their living conditions. The tour we went on in the Prison Gate Museum was in Dutch, but we were given a pamphlet with all the information in English so that we could follow along. The tour around the museum was grim and reflective as the tour guide passionately describe what went on in the individual rooms. There was one room that was labeled the “torture room” which the tour guide and pamphlet explained was used when a confession was needed from a prisoner.

After finishing the Prison Gate Museum, we had to quickly walk to the escape room since our appointment was at 4pm. We got there a little late and started as soon as possible.

We were briefed on the story that was happening at our specific escape room situation and were given a set of rules. Soon, we were let into the puzzle and the first room. With some difficulty, we managed to get past the room and into the main puzzle area.

We scattered around the room, working together to look for clues and figuring out the multiple problems. We had 60 minutes to complete the entire escape room and we had 45 minutes left in the main room.

We managed to figure out the beginning without too much difficulty, but eventually reached a stalemate. Finally, the guy watching over our progress via the video monitor gave us multiple clues until we figured the remaining puzzles. Finally, with only 10 minutes left to spare, we finally arrived at the last room. Feeling stumped at first, we managed to figure out the final puzzle by finding the treasure and reached the end goal.

There was less than a minute to spare until we realized that we had to get back out of the room to complete and “win” the escape room. Watching the timer countdown from only 5 seconds, we all sprinted out to the entrance and was panicked when we couldn’t open the door! Finally, Victor realized he had the key and opened the door.

We burst out of the room, until we realized we left the treasure inside the box, and dashed back in to retrieve it. Despite this, the guy in charge of us congratulated us for completing the escape room just in time, and we all felt exhilarated from the experience.

After the escape room, we made our way back to the trams, went for dinner, and then headed back to the hotel to end off the day.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Jane Chea