Great Day in the G.A. Plenary Committee- Katie O. and Lisa Yaxis

Where do we even begin? The Conference and Chicago has been an experience of a lifetime, and the Columbia College delegation is most definitely illustrating leadership in action. Lisa and I serve on the General Assemby Plenary Committe which is addressing the topics of 1) Cooperation and 2) Counter-Terrosim Strategy. As an active member of the African Union, Somalia has developed a very strong alliance with our esteemed neighbor from Ethiopia. We strive to support and/or oppose resolutions that are not in the best interest of Somalia or any of the developing countries in the world. While we have faced some strong opposition, Lisa and I have firmly held our ground motioning to divide the question to remove an operative phrase that sought to condemn many measures Somalia, Ethiopia, and the Ugandan led AU forces have been forced to take in order to defend and hopefully achieve stability for our Somalians. After motioning we were asked to speak to the body regarding our concerns, and will proudly take credit, along with our esteemed colleagues from Argentina, for increasing "those opposed" from 16 to 38. Many were not in the position to actually vote down the resolution due to their own alliances; however, they did change their votes to abstentions after our motion and speech to the body. Many countries have become frustrated with Somalia's committment to communicating to the body Somalia's and much of Africa's concerns and reservations about resolutions that they are forcefully and hurriedly trying to push through without any debate from the body. To their dismany, we have continually received many comments such as "we love you Somalia" and "you are doing a great job, tell us about your women's college"; all of which we are proud to have received. Five resolutions have been passed on the second topic and one resolution on the first, but our work is far from over. We are eager to debate a resolution submitted by Hungary that we signed to help bring to the floor. Wish us luck!

The Conference has been intriging and rather consuming; however, we have enjoyed all that Chicago has to offer. Today we had lunch at the famous Portillo's, a hot dog and sandwich restaurant, and then went shopping down Michigan Avenue. Tiffany's was amazing and the Disney Store definitely brought out the child in us all. Based on our finances, however, we enjoyed actually "shopping" in the H&M and Nordstrom Rack (Nordstrom clearance store). Also, we have been intrigued by the many different questions we have received as to our native homes. Many delegates have been convinced we are Texans, while others seem to believe we may be from Ohio(?). More surprisingly, some delegates have even believed we are an international delegation. We have been asked whether we are from Australia or Great Britain as one delegate insisted she heard our British accent. When asking the Concierge's opinion on this matter, he quickly interrupted me to let me know that I was definitely Southern but that Lisa sounded more like a New Yorker. This has definitely been an experience. We cannot wait for tomorrow, not because of our trip home, but rather are excited about the seeing the results of our Convention.