Days 13 and 14: Dubai (SAND!)

Yeh, I know, I'm posting out of order. When I get home I will try and post up the rest of Italy and what I did in Prague (I had fun - but specifics will come later.) I just felt that I should do Dubai before I get home, seeing it is my last night. If I get this one done quickly, I will post some others tonight too.

But Dubai! I arrived last night at around midnight. Hilarious plane trip actually. When I arrived at the gate and was waiting to board I scrolled through my news feed and saw that Andreena, a fellow Lake Macquarie Youth Advisory Council Member was at Prague Airport ready to fly home. So I walked a quick lap of the departure area and sure enough - there she was!

Look who I found!

So we had a really quick catch up and then noticed our seats were only one seat apart (I hadn't been seated with the rest of the IYLC participants who were on the plane - all 12 of them). But when we actually got to our seats, we were actually in the same row - my row was the emergency exit and was lined up with her row.

Just when it couldn't get more hilariously awesome - the Asian couple behind us were flying with an infant and Andreena was asked to swap a row back so they could use the wall in front of her to hang the bassinet. But because they saw me talking to Andreena, they moved me next to her. We sat next to each other on the flight. It was so cool!

At Dubai Airport, Andreena continued you and I braved the heat and humidity to get to my hotel. Which is really nice! The bed is super comfy and the couch is like another bed. 

The morning meant navigating the public transport (which is really confusing - the red smart card you buy works on buses and trains, but the website says it doesn't. I was baffled for hours) to make it to the wonderful Jumeirah Mosque for an educational tour. I didn't get a good photo of me in the abaya and hijab, just an awkward selfie - but the outfit is really cool. Both literally and metaphorically. It is made of a lightweight synthetic and it makes it really shady and breezy inside, so you're quite cool. Plus, you can wear whatever you want underneath - it's a convenience outfit really. 

My awkward selfie - I should really practice

The inside of the Mosque - it was so beautiful

During the tour, we learnt about the five pillars of Islam, saw how a prayer is conducted and asked a bundle of questions about Ramadan and why they wore what they wore (mostly, unsurprisingly, they are cultural interpretations and are designed to deal with the weather.) It was a truly enlightening experience and I highly recommend it.

Next up was the Burj Khalifa. I finished at the Mosque at 11:10am and had about a 55 minute trip to the Metro Station. Surely, in 25 minutes it would be easy to get to the entry point right?

Wrong.

The Metro Station is about a 10 minute walk through corridors just to get to the Mall. Which is HUGE. It has four floors, poor signage and HEAPS of shops. They all started to look the same. When I first arrived, I had no idea what floor I was on. Then when I found out I was Level 2, I took the escalators down. The first two floors were easy, down, turn around and down again (like in every multilevel department store in Australia I've ever been to) but the last floor didn't have a direct connection. I had to go through the maze again to find an escalator, then was given directions until I finally made it, with 10 minutes to spare.

The Burj was a little disappointing. It is 829m tall, but as you can see from the photo I took, we only went up about halfway. The view was impressive - but the building (based on a termite mound) was much more impressive from the outside. Still, I took a few photos then decided I needed to find some food - a proposition much harder than it sounds.

Cool glass sculpture in the lobby. It's so pretty.

The view - the haze is sand

See? 452m of the 829 total.

So lunch. You see, in the UAE during Ramadan, it is illegal to eat or drink in public. Which I totally understand - the moment I see food I get hungry. I don't have an issue with it. Although I am baffled as to why Hungry Jack's can have massive photos of their burgers everywhere in this time, but never mind. It does mean that everywhere that serves food is shut until sundown. Even my beloved Nandos - which devastated me. As I meandered the Mall plotting my next food move I found the Aquarium - which looked awesome and a Dinosaur! I didn't look too long though, I decided I had to buy a few things at the Supermarket and catch the metro home. It was really really good to eat though. 

The tank was HUGE!

Dinosaurs have really small skulls

The last part of my day was an evening desert safari. It was really cool! We had old school open top 4wds, saw falconry in action, rode camels and had a traditional dinner which was DELICIOUS. I ate so much. The best way to explain the safari is pictures : so have a squiz.

Camel Racing Robots

A scarf for the wind and the sand

It started to come undone - which was funny

If you look close you can see a herd of Oryx

Camel!

Me and the Car

Being all Laurence of Arabia

Me and the Falcon - Bolt

Saw a Gazelle too

Good night all. I will see you Monday morning - bright and early for Uni!

Day 12: El Presidente

Today was the big day - the final day of IYLC and the day of the European Union Parliamentary Simulation. Admittedly I was quite nervous as we went over our final preparations for parliament. By this time everyone else was starting to feel the effects of staying up to watch the sunrise - me, being the ever non-fun type, getting some well deserved sleep instead - I would have a full day in Dubai on Saturday so I didn't have time for shenanigans. Needed to keep healthy so I can enjoy my Desert Safari. However, just because everyone was tired or sick didn't mean they couldn't cause problems during the Simulation - particularly members of the conservative party who were already being frustrated.

So for breakfast I sat and reread the rules of the simulation over and over again. I also ate (duh).

Unfortunately the Czech Senate wasn't available for our simulation, which was a shame. It would have totally awesome to actually sit in the Czech Senate (particularly as President) but because Prague is such an old and beautiful place, we went to another beautiful old building, Cerge El, that felt just as classy and fancy. Marc and I even managed to take some time to have a photoshoot completed - just because.

Two big power-brokers just having a chat

After everything was sorted and everyone settled down, the simulation began. It reminded me a lot like Youth Parliament and very quickly the Conservative Party started causing trouble. Aside from some blatant disrespect and a lot of objections, I had one speaker sing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song - which would have been fine (if timewasting) had the rest of the participants not started to join in. The hardest part was when one of the participants moved to have me deposed as President - a move which was defeated comfortably (thank goodness). The real highlight was during the final vote when, in a point of protest, the entire conservative party left the room. I was left a little disappointed that speakers did not get up and speak more, nor seem to engage in any form of debate as such - although I believe that was more due to the makeup of the parties being so limited (two progressives v. one conservative) that left people feeling a little lack-luster. That and a lack of sleep. Still, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and afterwards we had time for a few happy snaps.

I got the power! 

A quick selfie

The team all at the Presidential Table.

Because of how short our simulation ran, we got a bit of free time. I went back to the hotel - mostly because I wasn't wearing shoes to go running around Prague - and relaxed - ducking down to the nearest convenience store to grab some afternoon tea. Sadly, our final dinner wasn't going to be at the house of the Black Madonna, but instead held at the hotel. Still, we had an awesome time until we were kicked out of the dining room for playing loud music late at night. So instead we hit the streets of Prague. We stopped by a comic book club and then a big group headed off to the five storey nightclub near the town centre. It was getting late and I needed to finish packing for tomorrow, so I came home.

The IYLC was a great experience, full of amazing people. They really make to re-evaluate what you've achieved and realise that anything is possible. I've had an amazing time and I couldn't have asked for a better bunch of people to spend my first week as a 20 year old with. I am sad to be leaving - although excited to be on the final stretch! As there is nothing much on tomorrow and I'll be on a plane for most of it, I don't expect to be posting. Instead, I'll give you all the goss of my no doubt super exciting plane trip from Dubai.

Day 11: Elyse got Arrested

Sort of.

Our morning started with the simulation of the International Criminal Court. As a witness for the defence, my job was to establish that Omar Al-Bashir did not order the crimes against humanity and was not responsible for them. That task was fairly easy for me - I was a General of the Sudanese Army and was able to testify that when we arrived to restore order we were attacked by civilians. The crimes that took place were as a result of self-defence (in my eyes) and I made the call to do what was done. Thanks to our efforts (and some great work by the barristers) the judges (other participants) decided in our favour not to indite Omar Al-Bashir. But they did decide that in light of my testimony, I should be indited for crimes against humanity.

So I was arrested.

Testifying

Our defence team

Being Arrested by the Judges

After lunch and me busting out, we started preparation for the highlight of the week, the simulation of the European Union Parliament. During this time I was pulled aside and asked if I would like to be President during the simulation - a role that had been decided for me due to my performances in previous simulations and the fact that I managed to wrangle the entire group of participants to perform a bush dance last night. As such, my role throughout the evening's proceedings was primarily observatory.

The topic for our simulation tomorrow is mandating a percentage representation of women on boards. Our party was one of the progressive parties, which meant we spent most of our time building a resolution to enforce a minimum percentage. Our next step was to lobby and negotiate with the other two parties (one very conservative, one as progressive as us) in order to secure the best possible resolution. I felt a bit sorry for the conservative party, they were outnumbered and didn't really have a chance here.

Finally, after dinner, we would have our committee hearings. Marc was supposed to be chairing these hearings, but unfortunately he came down quite sick. As such, I was also given the chair for these committee hearings. It was a lot of fun and hilarious - although again the conservative party was woefully outnumbered.

Tomorrow is the big day - Parliament time. And Madam President can't wait.

Day 10: Culture, with a K!

Today was leadership day. That basically meant that we did a whole lot of work discussing our personal interests and politics with one another and had a lot of fun.

Our first stop for the day was the American Centre. This is an interesting place which was built to share USA culture and interests with the people of Prague. It is not part of the Embassy, although exists nearby. The building itself is quite old and is full of old board games and technology as examples of American innovation to share with the world. Fur us, it was an opportunity to meet with diplomats from America as well as listen to a panel of speakers from the participants about issues important to them, We heard from Kanela, who is an aspiring Hawaiian politician, about grass roots movements and how he activated the population of Hawaii to become their representative. We also had a deep discussion about education across the world, which was a great opportunity to compare Australian education, with that of African and European countries. I believe that everyone learnt a lot about other nations and also their own country as a result of the panel discussion.

Listening to the discussions by our peers

Afterwards, we went across to the Radison Blue hotel for a reception with Diplomats and Partners of the IYLC. By then most of the girls had pretty sore feet from all the walking so we were pretty disappointed at the lack of seating. It was nice to have an opportunity to just chat with our peers, as well as meet a few diplomats from other countries. One woman I spoke with was very impressed with my passion for engineering and my desire to work for Engineers Without Boarders or the Red Cross when I graduate. Overall, it was a fun time and the place was very, very fancy.

That evening was culture night. It was an awesome evening, where the USA participants taught us the Electric Slide, the Indian participants taught us their traditional dance and I wrangled all of the participants to do the Stockyards. Jose from Peru taught us some Spanish (although it was all inappropriate) and the Spanish girls drove all the boys wild with their dancing. It's these sorts of evenings that disappoint us Westerners at our countries' lack of culture, there's not huge difference between USA, UK and Australia cultural items (mostly because we don't know enough about our local indigenous culture to share any of that.) One of the highlights of the night was the Australian Trivia run by the other Australian participants. They got volunteers to try Vegemite, Macadamia Cookies and Tim Tams (the Vegemite reactions were hilarious) and asked people to define what a Bogan was, which they themselves couldn't answer.

All dressed up with one of the South African Participants for Culture Night

It was a late evening and a full day. I am so glad to get back into my bed tonight. Tomorrow we run our International Criminal Court Simulation, where I will be a defence witness and begin preparation for the European Parliament. It's hard to believe we are already halfway through the program.

Day 9: Happy Birthday to Me!

Today started just like any other. I rolled out of bed nice and early, got dressed in business attire, loitered in the lobby for internet before having a quick breakfast (which was a super yummy buffet!) I hadn't mentioned to anyone that it was my 20th birthday. I didn't know anyone at the conference yet really! Like anyone would be more than polite if I mentioned it. Not important.

I arrived at the group room on time and found everyone else was already there. Then they started singing happy birthday, which was super embarrassing. Asimah, my facilitator, brought out a candle and a"cake", which was actually a plate of lollies. They had also organised a card for me, signed by everyone at the conference - which is super crazy cause I hadn't even really met anyone. Anyway, the "cake" was shared amongst the group and then we got started on our preparation for the Model United Nations.

"CAKE" - Marc on the left, Marcus on the right.

We started by learning a little about how the United Nations works. I was intrigued by the slightly different operation of this MUN; there was no resolution put forward, just a topic of discussion. However, my experience in Model United Nations proved extremely useful to assist in the answering of questions by other participants.

The topic was regarding the Syrian Civil War and the potential sanctions of the Syrian Government for crimes against their population. I really wanted to be China, because I enjoy being overpowered and cripplingly non-interventionist. Complaining about state sovereignty is so much fun! However, first the roles in the MUN were allocated, with Marcus being awarded Chairperson. The countries were then handed out, with China given the chair as they were first on the list. Whilst I was disappointed not to have received the country of my dreams, I was able to get the Russian Federation.

After a fifteen minute research period, the MUN began. It was an incredibly intense experience, particularly with Marc as the United Kingdom. He had the upper hand given his political background, but that just made it all the more fun to argue with him. I really enjoyed getting into character and Asimah noted that she was terrified of me and would have just started agreeing with me during speeches. So, mission accomplished I guess!

The best part of the MUN was during caucus when Marc (UK) and I had a huge argument about democracy. Being Russia, I supported the Syrian Regime and claimed that they had been democratically elected. Obviously, this put me at odds with UK who called Assad a dictator. So there was a loud, aggressive argument where I asked Marc why he hates democracy and freedom. Also, many a speech was given with snide sarcastic backhand remarks about the other country was also presented. Not the most diplomatic, but certainly the most fun.

Welcome to the Security Council

Kughan, myself, Marc and Miriam

Dropping the Sass - look at Marc's face!

After lunch we went to the Pakistani Embassy and met the Ambassador. It was a very interesting time, to hear about Pakistan and its foreign policy, a country I will admit I am not too familiar with. I thought it was great to have the opportunity to learn about another country from their perspective, particularly one with such controversial policies, especially regarding nuclear weapons.

Our group at the Embassy with the Ambassador

That was all that really happened today. We started our preparation for the International Criminal Court simulation regarding the indictment of Omar Al Bashir, President of Sudan. I'm hoping I'll be able to put myself into a quieter position and let the others have a go at being the loud and obnoxious one - I think I intimidated too many people today.

Day 8: IYLC Begins

It was another early start and a regretful goodbye to my wonderful hotel room (Breakfast was AH-MAY-ZING by the way) as I started the part of my journey that was actually the point of this trip in the end. I arrived ridiculously early to Milan Airport and was told upon check-in that my plane was delayed. No worries, I'd be fine, I knew I would be early to Prague anyway. No stress.

So grab a quick morning tea and head to the gates, where I waited. And waited. And waited. Then I sent an email to my mum (because I like scaring her.) We received no word, just that it was delayed. I didn't worry too much - after all, I had until 3pm in Prague to register (and even then, it turned out, I really had all day) - IYLC administrators would understand. When we were finally asked to board it took FOREVER - the line just didn't move for another half an hour. Ridiculous really.

But after that all went well. Flight was nice and quick - although I did want to spend my euros on an in-flight snack but they didn't notice me crammed up against the window. Their loss. When I touched down in Prague I grabbed my bag and headed out to be met by one of the facilitators to head to the conference.

Except no one was there.

Turned out, I had just missed them before they did a quick run back to the hotel with a batch of participants. I met the facilitator about ten minutes later (after I texted the organisers asking where everyone was) and was quickly introduced to a number of other participants from Pakistan and Swaziland who had also just flown in. As a group we took a bus and the subway (and our facilitator got so distracted by our conversation we missed our stop!) before arriving at the hotel.

Turns out there are a lot of Hotel Olympik in this area. We had a small one down the back end of the area. After settling in we went to the local supermarket and bought some lunch before meeting and mingling fellow participants. Next was registration where I met Asimah, my facilitator. She is really lovely, very supportive and kind. Bit quiet though.

That evening, after dinner, we had a group meeting where we got to know everyone. There's people from all over the world in my group: Somalia, Netherlands, USA, India just to name a few. I certainly am one of the youngest at the conference and there are a lot of high achievers. Marc from Boston has written a book about politics, Mustaf from Somalia runs a national youth empowerment organisation. It certainly is incredible and makes you realise how little you have achieved.

Tomorrow the conference begins for real, with a Model UN Security Council. I cannot wait, this conference is going to be so much fun!

Day 7: Milan Darling, Milan

With one day left before Prague, it was up early in the morning to catch the train to Milan. Just before I left I bought myself a new necklace and bracelet made from Murano Glass, which I intend to wear during the conference. I was actually at the train station way too early because I was so worried about the water bus taking too long to get there! But otherwise the morning was uneventful. I was thrilled though when I arrived at my hotel! It was so fancy and everything non-alcoholic in the minibar was complimentary. Which was AWESOME (in the heat it was appreciated that there was free bottles of water for me to take adventuring.)

Milan is a very shoppy place. It's mostly big brand name shops and tourist places - which makes it quite expensive. It is very easy to get around in however and I had no trouble finding my meeting place for the bus tour of Milan. The first stop was the Cathedral, which is absolutely glorious. As I was climbing it later, I didn't take too many photos at this time. I did also duck inside and see the traditional neogothic artwork and the world's largest stained glass windows, however was unable to take photographs. Still, it is a beautiful building I will tell you more about later.

Statue of the first king of Italy

Milan Cathedral

We wandered through the Galleria which contains a number of mosaics regarding the history of Italy, including the four cities that once had been capital of the unified nation. For the most part it is just a shopping mall, not actually that exciting, but like most of Milan it is currently undergoing renovations for an international expo (not the World Expo, a different one) so that all of Milan is shiny for next year. We then arrived at La Scala, the renowned Opera House, where we took a tour of the theater and the gallery. I didn't know much, but they had lots of paintings of famous singers. So that was cool.

I really do like Chandeliers

Mozart's hair (not a good photo)

Our next stop on the tour was the Palace of the Duke of Milan. This fortress housed both the Duke and the Duchess who lived at opposite ends of the place (so romantic.) It has a number of famous artworks, including the third and final Pieta which was left incomplete by Michelangelo. We did not go and see this artwork. Instead, we did a quick tour of the Duke's quarters and then got onto the bus for our final destination - The Last Supper.

The moat - now a home for cats

One of the watch towers

Another, close up - with family crests

The final tour stop was the Last Supper, which is a mural painting on a Monastery wall. Having been recently restored, it is quite vibrant, although there are a number of lost details included Jesus' feet from when the monks put a door through that wall. Due to the fact it was a relatively new technique used by Leonardo and the quality of the materials used, it has always been in poor condition - even when Leonardo had only recently finished it. It was nearly destroyed in World War II when the Monastery was bombed and now exists in a temperature and humidity controlled space that requires you to walk through two airlocks to see it.

I was worried I wasn't going to make it to my last Milan tour, climbing the Cathedral, so I didn't catch the bus back to the meeting point, instead going directly from the Last Supper to the Cathedral. Turned out I was the first one there. The Cathedral was completed in 1965, taking 600 years to complete the build. As such, it is a mixture of gothic and neogothic architecture, including flying buttresses and hundreds of sculptures, each one unique. The view is fairly standard, Milan is a modern city, but this church is spectacular. Because of the white marble used, it is constantly undergoing repairs and restoration with whole sections being replaced. The repair work is constant and as such there is a saying that any long, seemingly endless task is described as being "as the repair of the Duomo."

In World War II it was only hit by one bomb, which has left a mark in the church. The theory is that the bright white church was a marker for bombers as they flew over to attack Milan, which is why it was saved, even though they attempted the firebombing technique later used in Dresden. This firebombing technique failed in Milan due to the humidity of the area (they get a lot of rain, much to the disgust of Italian farmers in other regions.)

Outside one of the world's biggest stained glass windows - the oldest part of the Cathedral

A statue

Gargoyles and some useless flying buttresses (neogothic)

Where the bomb hit the Cathedral

Some modern decorations - tennis for instance

Illuminati Artwork - Dan Brown take note

One of the only representations of Mussolini and Fascism in all of Italy

Truly in-spire-ing (haha)