While the Georgetown Model United Nations team frequently travels to compete, its trips are usually limited to four-hour bus rides to Yale or the University of Pennsylvania. But last month, GUMUN flew 21 hours to Melbourne, Australia, for WorldMUN, joining nearly 2,000 students from 55 countries to debate world issues.

The conference, sponsored by Harvard University, marked the first time Georgetown, the top-ranked North American team for the past two semesters, has attended a conference outside North America.

“WorldMUN … brings together the greatest assortment of college students from around the globe to engage in cultural exchange, diplomacy and cooperation,” Georgetown team member Anais Carmona(SFS ’14), who has attended 13 college Model UN conferences, said. “This one was an experience that I don’t think I will ever have in any other conference we go to, as diverse as our circuit in the [United States] is.”

During the five-day international conference, attendees represented countries in committee sessions in order to create UN resolutions, a process that involves extensive debate and compromise. For example, Tanzanian students represented Chile, while Georgetown students represented France; each had to advocate accordingly for their respective countries’ interests.

“It’s about finding out what international politics and negotiation and cooperation are really about,”Carmona said.

Team members said the largest difference between national MUN conferences and the WorldMUNevent was the award structure. According to team member Jeffrey Caso (SFS ’15), national MUNevents are known for rewarding individual team success, whereas WorldMUN rewarded those who demonstrated the best diplomacy and collaboration.

“You’re really there to foster relationships and friendships and have that cultural experience,”Carmona added.

For example, Carmona spoke of her experience with a group of Venezuelan students the week following former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s death.

“During lunch, we said, ‘Hey, we know this might be uncomfortable, but what is it like over there right now?’” Carmona said. “They were so happy to be able to talk about it and were so happy we were interested in it.”

In addition to debating major world issues with peers from across the globe, students also received the opportunity to explore Melbourne and to interact with each other in more casual settings.

“WorldMUN knew you only had a week in Melbourne, and they wanted you to see the city, so they would organize events at night all over the city,” Caso said. “It was very classy, and very professional. … You would see the people you had been working with all day long, and you’d say ‘Oh, I’ve seen you in a committee, you are representing Tanzania, where are you actually from?’”

Carmona said she enjoyed spending time with her fellow committee members over lunch, where they agreed to talk about anything other than Model UN.

“This is where China and France become friends, this is where we decide to meet up for dinner or before the ‘out-of-committee social experience’ that WorldMUN offers,” Carmona said. “Then, back into the grind of things for another two and a half hours —debating, caucusing, speaking and convincing the other delegates on a certain plan.”

To secure funding for the trip, the International Relations Club, which oversees GUMUN, began fundraising last year, using the Campaign for Georgetown as a model. Overall, the club received support from 12 donors, including the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President.

GUMUN attends six to seven competitions each semester. Earlier this semester, the team traveled to New Haven, Philadelphia, Montreal and San Francisco. The San Francisco conference was the team’s first trip away from the east coast.

“We are definitely a force to be dealt with,” Carmona said. “We are not only some of the best delegates on the circuit, but we also pride ourselves in being a family of Hoyas that have continued a tradition of excellence and fun.”

According to Caso, GUMUN is already looking ahead to next year’s conference, whose location has not yet been determined. Caso said that the team hopes to attend WorldMUN again, perhaps with a larger group.

“We’re going to try next year to start fundraising really early with the community, law firms, whomever we can receive donations from, because we want to make this a sustainable practice,” Caso said.