In the refugee simulation, my role was writing notes on possible solutions to the problem at hand, negotiating and listening to other groups and organizations in regards to their goals and possible solutions to satisfy everyone’s goals. I also discussed these possible solutions with my fellow group members and why or why not they would fit with our goals given to us by Mr Bailey.
Despite not partaking in Model UN I felt relatively prepared for this simulation, disregarding the formal discussions which was a little new to me. I felt that everything we learned in class from the vocabulary to the different international theories made a tremendous difference in my preparedness for this simulation and others like it. Although the group was not quite able to reach a long term agreement I feel as though everyone was able to say what they wanted to say and I feel as though a long term solution could be agreed upon in another meeting.
I enjoyed the politicking aspect of the simulation, persuading and conversing with others, no matter their view on the issue. It was also exciting to put myself in someone else’s shoes, and to think that this could be my job one day, or at least something similar.
While I liked conversing with others, sometimes it was extremely frustrating to try and come to an agreement with another party when your goals are completely uncompromising with one another.
I feel like changing the goals to make a long term solution slightly easier to achieve would be a beneficial change to the simulation, also adding the Rubits to the table would change the entire dynamic of the simulation and could also add some more depth to the meeting.
I learned that international relations is a lot harder than it looks on paper, and getting people with different goals and ideologies to work together is extremely hard.