We had the privilege of visiting the United Nations headquarters in Vienna today. I was really excited, especially because I participated in Model UN throughout high school and I felt as though I was getting to live out my high school dream. When we checked into the headquarters, I felt particularly excited when I received a clip-on badge that was calibrated with my own passport.
First, we got a basic tour of some of the facilities conducted by a UN guide. I was amazed by how efficiently the UN is run considering how large of a campus it really is. Fun Fact! The UN is technically not in Vienna; it is in international territory, and that is why we needed to show our passports to get in. One of my big questions that I went into the UN with was why the countries in the Security Council had not changed once since the UN’s conception after World War II. The guide touched on this idea in her tour, and although she didn’t provide an exact answer, she did say that she personally thought the Security Council did need some updating and other countries should be given a chance to participate.
After the tour, we had a presentation by a staff member at the IAEA, which stands for the International Atomic Energy Agency. Many of the other students and I thought the presentation was too vague to really understand exactly what the agency does and how the agency does what it does. I did learn that countries can hold a completely anti-nuclear stance, but still be a member country of the IAEA, which I thought was interesting.
We took a quick break for lunch in the UN’s impressive, multi-cultural cafeteria and then we met back up for our second presentation, this time from a member of UNCAC, the UN’s Convention Against Corruption within the UNODC, which is the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Again, this presentation was fairly vague and many of us didn’t really understand what the convention or the office did. We thought the speaker’s background was very interesting though and many of us wanted to learn more about the other things that she did.
Overall, I’m really glad I was able to have the opportunity go to a UN headquarters even if the particular presentations we had were not the best.
After the UN visit, a few of us went to a beer garden with Kathy. We went to this beer garden after the Vivaldi concert where many of us tried the hemp beer that they have. This time I tried the chili beer, which I really liked. I wish they had something similar to it in the states! Kathy told us stories about her grandmother and mother living in Germany before, during, and after WWII. I’m so glad I got the chance to hear these incredible stories. After hearing one of these stories, we figured out that Kathy and I might be distantly related!
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