At the End of February, the Heidelberg MUN Society, consisting of 28 delegates, performed at the annual LIMUN conference at King’s College in London. The lecture period and most of our exams were finished, so we entered London with a free spirit.

Our stay in London began with a visit to the German Embassy on Thursday. We had our passports and belongings scanned and headed right into the embassy. Afterwards, we had one hour to ask an employee of the embassy however many questions we liked which he answered to the best of his knowledge and ability. We talked about his career and current job, but also about his daily life. Our delegation ended that day with drinks and playing cards in a dim and cozy pub.

On Friday, we had our first day at the conference. But before we started debating, we had interesting panels to visits. Especially the diplomacy panel, where ambassadors from Australia, Mexico, Canada, Switzerland and Finland happened to answer questions from the audience, was a highlight. Next, the opening ceremony in Westminster Hall began. The Board of LIMUN introduced itself and the Chairs of all committees. Also, a member of parliament held an interesting and informative speech. In the evening, the first debating session took place. We were exhausted from the long day but happy to finally get an insight into our committees and meet our fellow delegates. There was a total number of 32 committees ranging from beginner to expert, from WHO to Interpol and ECOSOC. To make the day even more exciting, the first social was scheduled at nine p.m and we hit the dance floor.

The Saturday was filled with fruitful debates in our committees. We got to know our fellow delegates, formed working groups, passed notes, and wrote resolution papers. During lunch break we got to explore the neighborhood of King’s College which is in the heart of London. Due to LIMUN’s international prominence, we met people from all over the world.

The absolute highlight of our stay in London was the LIMUN ball. The ball took place in the renowned Waldorf Hilton Hotel. The ambience was very elegant and luxurious due to high ceilings, fitting décor and everyone’s ball gowns. In this setting, we got to meet our new friends from the committees again and talked and danced for many hours.

Unfortunately, the London Marathon took place the next day, which made it difficult for us to get to King’s College. Since our hostel was “only” five km in distance from King’s College, we decided to walk, after waiting unsuccessfully for one of the red buses. Our last debating sessions ended, and we held the closing ceremony at Emmanuel Building. At the closing ceremony, we were very proud to hear that three Heidelberg delegates had won awards: Laura Wagner (most improved delegate), Chiara Lichter (most improved delegate) and Maik Detlefsen (best delegate).

Our time at LIMUN may had ended then, but our delegation had one last stop to make. We visited the International Maritime Organization, a specialized organization of the UN. We had a small guided tour through the building and the conference room. We happily took up the offer from our guide to have lunch in their cafeteria, which lead us to eating with the IMO staff at the top of the building, overlooking the Thamse and Big Ben.

To sum it up, we had a great and extraordinary experience at LIMUN! Thank you for having us, LIMUN. See you next year.