Pigeons, Pyramids, and Parties - What did our MUN students get up to in Egypt?

Article by Elene Papiashvili 

Edited by Keto Kapianidze 

Source:GZAAT Gazette

After lots of preparations, conferences, sightseeing, and joking around with Levan Mas, the MUN students came back to Tbilisi from their trip and had a lot to tell. When they returned, they even presented a short but intriguing and fun vlog at the school assembly, managing to gather everyone’s interest. We asked some questions regarding the trip and received riveting answers. “They gave us a taste of their cuisine, such as pigeon—Hameem, which tasted pretty good.” Intrigued? There’s more.

The idea to go to the Egypt conference started when CAUMUN, our own MUN-organized conference, received an invite via email to attend NIMUN in Egypt. “Sandro and I quickly began to call the club members to get them to fill a delegation, and after a couple of weeks of only having one person, we got the last 3 in one day of extensive phone calls.” Said Zviad Tsetskhladze, one of the members. After getting approved by Mr. Cruz, getting Levan Ghambashidze to be their supervisor, and figuring out the finances, they were ready to start the journey.

At the conference, AAT students went as chairs and a delegation. The delegation, students who represented countries inside committees, were Alexandre Shavdia, Giorgi Rurua, Alexandre Zarnadze, and Nikoloz Liluashvili. Zviad Tsetskhladze and Sandro Kakabadze were chairs who led the committees of ITU (Telecommunications Union) and UNSC (Security Council). 

The club members returned very satisfied, all agreeing that the conference was probably the most organized conference they’ve ever been to; it turns out that the procedure closely reflected the official UN parliament and the other delegates to be great people as well. Everything was perfectly arranged: the committees, the opening ceremony, and even the lunch breaks, which included various engaging activities. “One of the best parts of the conference was the crisis meetings in which we were shown custom chair-made videos that were introduced in the moment,” added Giorgi Rurua. “Outside the conference, we had the opportunity to go to Cairo’s main bazaar, in which we got a taste of negotiation and the overall culture of the people. We also got to learn and see how the tyrannic government was replaced by a worse dictatorship and how people can’t even voice their opinions in the streets.”

Levan Ghambashidze’s role was supervising the students in a foreign country with different laws. Also, since they were representing the school, they had to have a teacher as well. “I helped them with waking up in the morning, not getting lost among tons of people in the bazaar and mostly tried to discourage them from spending a lot of money on useless things, but I failed one time, unfortunately,” said Levan. He probably refers to the stick that Sashka Zarnadze bought, who was the unofficial MUN member that tagged along. 

Levan was able to simultaneously organize them when they were in a rush but also could make a joke and relieve the situation. “He even danced along with us at the parties and I remember him knocking on our door on the first day wearing a suit and tie and making a funny face; that was hilarious,” said Shavdia.

When asked what Levan would highlight, he said that something strange but fun was that men and women don’t dance with each other. “Men dance with each other and women with each other. It is quite unusual considering that you’re standing there and some men are asking you to dance. You also don’t know what they’re singing, maybe love songs; who knows?”

When they didn’t have a conference, the group strolled around Cairo, where they visited the Giza Pyramids. They were shown around the city by locals to restaurants, museums, and bazaars. They visited the Nile River and took a boat ride, blasting both Georgian and Egyptian songs on the speakers while singing and dancing the entire time. “Our time in Cairo was truly unforgettable. We met so many amazing people, explored historic landmarks, and tasted some fascinating dishes. We only wish we had more time in Egypt,” Nikoloz Liluashvili remarked. What surprised everyone was how warm and nice the locals were, always helping them and making them feel comfortable. “We never felt like outsiders; it felt like we belonged,” Nikoloz added. It looks like hospitality in Egypt wasn’t just about being welcoming to guests; it was about forming real bonds, about treating people like family.

When asked about his experience, Aleksandr Shavdia said that even though Egypt is a Muslim country, that in no way affected how enjoyable the parties were. “Good music and very active, friendly, and energetic people. Every time we'd get tired they'd come and say, "No breaks, no breaks," and take us back to the dance floor.” 

Wondering why you should join this great and fun club? One of the members, Giorgi Rurua, said that the MUN club encourages quick-witted thinking, increases writing proficiency, and helps with speech-making. Turns out that just attending the club already widens a person’s geopolitical knowledge. “I’d encourage others to join for these reasons, for the many skills that they’ll develop, which will even be handy in other fields,” he added.

So, if you also want to participate in various conferences, enter a foreign country with a suitcase full of formal outfits and a $25 visa that you buy on the spot, and consider joining MUN in GZAAT!