02/12/2013: As reported earlier, 6 students of the Milestone Institute’s Academic Year programme had the great opportunity to visit Berlin and participate in BerMUN 2013, between the 20th and the 23rd of November. The delegation would not have been complete, however, without our beloved mentor and editor Christoph Gottstein. Due to his modesty he left himself out of the diary, but since BerMUN would not have been the same – or even possible in the first place – without him, the report would not be either. So Christoph, this is our present to you, it’s your time to shine!
Naturally, he fulfilled all his duties as a teacher flawlessly – minibus from airport, made sure everyone got their host families, waited for everyone to get home every night and report to him, even managed to replace a broken BerMUN pen for one of us. But his efforts started way back in the summer, when he got us a place in the conference, and then trained 6 MUN-newbies to debating experts (that is, if it was only up to him we would definitely be experts by now) within 3 month, sacrificing his Tuesday evenings for the cause every week. He also turned out to be the best tourist guide in all of Berlin, booking a slot to see the Reichstag and afterwards speed-walking us through all of the important sights – always ready to deliver a story about any building, sculpture or street that we crossed. Being a Berliner himself, he showed us the best, sometimes even hidden-from-the-public places. But if you thought he only operated behind the scenes, you were wrong! As part of the Closing Ceremony Christoph participated in a panel discussion (“The BerMUN Magical Mystery Tour: The Stepping Stones and Paths We’ve Taken”) being an ex-BerMUNer as well. He revealed how BerMUN got him to Milestone, which was rewarded by his faithful delegation with loud applause. The funny stories he then told about his experience at BerMUN proved to the whole audience that he, in fact, was the best director in all of BerMUN – something that was obvious to us from the beginning. So once again, thank you for the opportunity, the experience, the fun and all the inside jokes of the past week to the most awesome director one could ever wish for!
The Members of the Milestone MUN Society