Outside of Wartburg Castle

Author: Sydney Foster | Major: Economics | Semester: Fall 2023

Hi! My name is Sydney Foster. I am an honors student at the Sam M. Walton College of Business majoring in economics and minoring in accounting and legal studies. Over the Fall 2023 Thanksgiving break, I traveled to Erfurt, Germany with the University of Arkansas’ National Model United Nations (NMUN) team to participate in the NMUN conference along with 40 other universities across 12 countries and 4 continents.

I chose the Model United Nations (MUN) program to enhance my academic experience and completed the program gaining much more than improved academics. My original appeal to the MUN program was to better my research, writing, and public speaking abilities. Upon completion of the program, my research, writing, and public speaking abilities are not comparable to my first day attending the class. In doing research, I learned how to depict useful information and then utilize the useful information in my writing. Over the course of the class, my partner and I edited our same paper numerous times. Through the edits, I learned how to make each sentence have a purpose and be impactful to the reader. Throughout the semester and at the conference, my public speaking skills improved. At the beginning of the semester, I struggled to deliver a speech that was convincing. After the conference, I feel confident in my ability to deliver a convincing speech to a crowd. I learned how to utilize pauses and voice inflections in my speeches for the audience to be more engaged. Aside from my academic professional development, I also had personal development opportunities. During the conference, I learned how to properly network with peers in an informal and formal setting. I was able to meet people, start conversations, and grow relationships with individuals from all around the world. I also learned how to accept and apply constructive criticism from my peers. Being able to receive constructive criticism well is a skill that will follow me into the workplace. This course differs from traditional college courses. The course was not test based, but rather constant evaluations of our papers and speeches. This course stood out to me due to its emphasis on personal and professional development rather than the strict academic development that occurs in the traditional classroom.

Traveling to Erfurt, Germany was my first international travel experience. While in Erfurt, our group got to visit unique parts of history. We had the opportunity to mourn those affected by the Holocaust visiting Buchenwald Concentration Camp Memorial. We had the opportunity to visit Point Alpha where the border between East and West Germany once stood. Our group took a visit to Wartburg Castle where Martin Luther once lived. Erfurt’s population is about 200,000 people but facilitated a small-town atmosphere. There were shops and local-based restaurants all around that allowed us to immerse ourselves into the German culture.

I would recommend participating in the MUN program to my peers. The class and the coursework are challenging, but going to the conference makes it worth it. The hard work is realized when students participate in the conference. The opportunity to network with individuals from all over the world and work alongside each other to make resolutions to real world issues is invaluable. The amount of confidence students will gain from this experience will follow them in their personal and professional life. My advice to students that want to participate in this course would be to soak up the learning experience. You are going to make mistakes, so soaking up the experience and learning from the mistakes will be beneficial to individuals.