Once we had settled into our hotel on Saturday night, my roommate and I set out to find something to eat at one of the many restaurants that Canberra is supposedly famous for. This soon proved difficult however, because most were actually closed. It was a far cry from the busyness of a weekend on the Gold Coast, though we soon found a small square that was open and had some amazing Thai food. There was even a mini skating rink set up, though I decided falling on ice was probably to the best way to get used to the Canberra weather on my first night.
But, my mood was soon improved when on the following day we set off to register at the ANU campus. For those who haven’t been to ANU, it is about 10 times as big as Bond. It takes you about 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other (as we found out after our taxi dropped us at the completely opposite side of the university to where we were supposed to be). Once we did finally arrive though, it was great to meet up with the rest of the Bondies attending, and giggle together at the matching jumpers the Griffith delegate were sporting.
After we had a rules briefing, we all set off to listen to the Czech Republic Ambassador to Australia talk about his time in the UN. His insight was extremely funny, and he gave some great anecdotes about the way specific countries act. Apparently, if you don’t want to do much work it is a good idea to be a part of the 2nd GA – they’re never actually in the office.
Later in the day we went to the amazing auditorium of the School of Music at the ANU campus, where we heard speeches by the Chancellor of ANU, Dr Andrew Leigh the Federal Member for Frasier, and Hilary Charlesworth who is an advocate for international law and human rights, as well as having been Australia’s ad hoc judge in the ICJ whaling case. All gave excellent speeches that were followed by many others throughout the week.
Following the opening ceremony we headed over the road to UniPub – 5 levels of pub gloriousness with a whole floor of pool tables complete with jukebox. After a few beers and meeting some great new people, we finally headed back to the hotel and set our alarms for an early start the next day – the first day of committee sessions.
While most committees were over at the ANU campus, the legal committees were given the very special privilege of being hosted by the High Court of Australia. Not only were we given access to the courtrooms to use for the week, but we were actually allowed to sit at the bench in the judges chairs. Any law student can appreciate how awesome such an experience would be. We felt very official and judicious sitting up there, and there were more than a few covert photos taken (apparently we weren’t technically allowed to take photos).
We began discussing our first topic, which was the legality of France’s actions during the Rwandan genocide. First the justices heard evidence and arguments from both Rwanda and France, and both advocates were grilled on points of law (possibly because of a power trip by law students who finally had a chance to question instead of being questioned). After all the evidence had been presented the debate began. If you can imagine 14 law students who like putting their point forward in a room together, its no wonder things got a little tense. Our amazing and patient directors stepped in a few times to calm the tensions, but on the whole we cooperated fairly well. A more relaxed atmosphere followed that night at our committee dinner, where we were able to get to know our fellow justices better over a great meal.
On Tuesday debate over the finer points of law ensured, but by the end of the day we had come to a fairly good consensus on the main issues. We then went off that night to the Golden Age of Hollywood party held at the Australian War Memorial. It was an amazing venue with the planes and other war memorabilia hanging overhead. Due to a mix up by the War Memorial the legal committees were seated in a separate room. Although it was annoying to be separated from the rest of the committees, it is clear that law students can party hard. We soon made up for the lack of decorations with bottles of wine and some dancing to a fairly decent DJ.
More than a few people were nursing mild headaches the next day, but we started to write our majority judgement to present to Chief Justice French on Friday. It seemed that our second topic was not going to be discussed, as we frantically worked to finish our judgement to a standard that CJ French could be proud of. After a hard day of work, we celebrated at Meche Nightclub Circus themed party complete with acrobats and fire breathers.
With a slight headache again on Thursday, we went back to our deliberation room on the secure area of the High Court (which the public isn’t allowed to enter) to finish our judgement for the next day. Finally, after much sweat and tears, it was finally complete. Deciding to celebrate by taking some more photos down in the courtroom, we were a bit disappointed by the court administrator telling us photography wasn’t allowed unless we were actually debating. So, in fine form, we started talking about anything we could remember about our second topic Kashmir while our faithful director took photos of us sitting at the bench. We finished early and decided to go and see the new Harry Potter movie to celebrate. I won’t go into detail about the movie here, because being a Harry Potter fan I could write a whole separate article on it.
Friday saw us sitting in the main Courtroom 1 with CJ French listening to our presentations of judgements. He gave a short speech and handed out the best delegate awards. The lucky few to shake his hand jokingly said they would never wash their hand again (at least I hope they were joking). Following the awards was the closing ceremony at which CJ French made a short speech and then it was all over. No more debating and arguing, no more pretending to be a justice. It was a bit depressing really.
I soon cheered up while getting ready for the Finale Ball, which was to be held in the Great Hall of Parliament House that night. Many photos were taken, committee jokes were made, and there were more than a few check-ins on Facebook to commemorate the event. There was a slightly awkward moment when Monash University was accidently announced as the host of next year’s AMUNC instead of La Trobe, but it was amusing to see them do the walk of shame back to their seats after cheering only minutes before. The host of the 2013 AMUNC was also announced, and the Victoria University of Wellington NZ showed their enthusiasm by celebrating with a traditional haka.
All too soon we were kicked out so the staff could clean up, and we had to deal with the fact that AMUNC really was over. It was one of the most amazing experiences, and one I will not forget in a hurry. I met so many people that I’m sure will be lifelong friends, and I am eagerly counting down the months to next year’s AMUNC in Melbourne. If you have ever thought of doing AMUNC I’d definitely recommend that you do. You won’t regret it.
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