Think Global, Act Slovak

This weekend a couple students from our school participated in a Model United Nations conference in Bratislava. I was asked to come along as their faculty advisor (not so much because I know about Model United Nations or even my way around Bratislava, but more as an English helper). I, of course, jumped at the chance to travel again because, as Mae noticed, I go on quite the number of adventures here...

So I went to Bratislava!

The conference took place in the building of National Council of Slovak Republic – simply said, the Slovak parliament.

This conference was quite an international event with students from many countries present. All of the students formed delegations representative of countries in the United Nations and discussed problems such as Piracy in Somalia, Extremism, North Korea, the Advancement of Women and many more topical issues.

My girls were Turkey and they rocked it!

My girls, and the other faculty advisor at the opening ceremony

Well, perhaps I'm easily impressed, but it was wonderful to see so many young adults discussing such important topics in the world and coming to resolution about these problems. Sometimes, I am guilty (as many Americans are accused of being) of only knowing about issues that face America. These 14-18 year old students knew more about the problems of the world than I did. I truly felt, as I looked around the room, that these students could do something to help. That's one of the things I love most about teaching - seeing the passion and energy in younger students.

Then I remembered, I'm young too! And here I am, in another country, with the ability to make a difference. So, I feel not only impressed but inspired to do something great with my year in Slovakia. I'm not exactly sure what that will look like now, but for starters I'm going to try harder to actively learn Slovak language (which, I've recently learned is on a couple lists of the most difficult language to learn) and understand more about the culture through my independent research project (which I haven't even decided on yet)

I have some work to do, but I'm really excited!
Stay tuned...

I suppose this is dovidenia for a little while then...

The girls and I in front of the Bratislava Castle (I love how I'm the shortest!)