Dear Eco-Generation members,

There is a very famous saying that, 'Life moves fast, unless you don?t document the good times, you can never look back on things that you cherish'. So here I am to document my fantabulous experience of the 2015 Global Youth Eco-Leadership Summit held from 9^th-13^th February, in Seoul, South Korea.

I am going to start with the pre-summit happenings and then give a blow by blow of all the days, one by one and try my best to make you feel as if you were there and experienced the whole thing in the form of text and pictures. I think my chairperson, Bindu, elaborated in her world report on what the entire process was and how it went and what were the topics, etc. So I am going to give you completely my point of view and my experience. So stay tuned and keep reading!

Let's start from scratch. The announcements. I am sure that all of you must have been keeping up with the Tunza Eco-Generation post that announced the Global delegates, Indian delegates and the Global Facilitator (Hi, Bindu!)

We were all sent an e-mail the day before the announcements so that we had braced ourselves for the happiness that was going to be flooded. Thanks for giving us the joyful heads up, Eco-Gen! Then we had to fill in registration forms, select chaperones, answer a few questions, etc. All this was in late December. Then things got a little subdued.

Then, suddenly in Mid-January, we got all that we were waiting for! The information kit, our delegate group and team allocations and everything that made things fall into place. We got some deadlines. Immediately started preparing! Then our chairperson chimed in and provided us with lengthy, but helpful study materials! Then the position paper preparation for the MUN started. Alongside, we were doing the PT Party presentation, then we had to buy a gift for the secret angel. And we had to confirm whether we were bringing our laptop or not. AAUUGGHH! Hectic. But fun. A LOT OF FUN!

Even on the plane, I met two delegates from Bahrain who had a transit in Dubai and were taking the same flight as me to Incheon!

9^th February 2015-Day 1: Acquaintance

The wheels were out, our hearts were clutched as the plane slowly wound its way on the runway and we set foot on Korean soil on 9^th February. So excited! First thing I and my mom (my chaperone) met our ever-smiling tour guide, Ms. Sophie at the Incheon Airport. And we were so lucky to have found it snowing, the first snow of 2015 on the day we arrived! We got onto the bus with our batch of delegates and arrived at the luxurious, Lexington Hotel! Then at 8 pm, we gathered in the Banquet hall (or at least, I think so!) of our Hotel for the GYELS session 1. Since we were all tired and overloaded with Jet Lag, they decided to keep it light. I met people all from different countries on my Table, and was extremely delighted! We moved on to have dinner, and then it started.

I was so glad to meet everyone, Ms. Christy Lee and Ms. Erika Lim, the people behind Eco-Generation! First we had the ice breaker, which was basically passing a mike around to every delegate and knowing about them!  Okay, all the delegates who are reading this, I know my ice breaker was a bit long, no need to rub it in!

I think you all saw the global and Indian delegates, but I am not sure if you know every single person who was there, so let me acknowledge these environmental enthusiasts.

In no particular order: Anna(Bahrain), Shaikha (Bahrain), Jenna(Canada), Khongurzul(Mongolia), Nadiya(Ukraine), Deniz(Turkey), Minh(Vietnam), Aashna(India), Prakhyat(India), Sari(Saudi Arabia), Eyad(Saudi Arabia), Arif(Malaysia), Haziq(Malaysia), Sasis a.k.a William(Thailand), Rosalind a.k.a Prim(Thailand), Rohan(Not another Rohan, just me from UAE!), GaaBhin(S. Korea), Hein(S. Korea), Sujin( S. Korea) and Sehun(S. Korea) Missing you guys already!

Altogether, 20 delegates. And Bindu Bhandari (Chairperson). Then we had the Secret Angel or the Manito game. Let me break the suspense, because later we have important things to discuss. Eyad was my secret friend, and I was the secret friend of Hein.

10^th February 2015-Day 2: Warming Up

The first Global Youth for the Environment Forum session! Two amazing lectures (In Korean, no worries translators provided!)

We took down notes, I was in group J. Then after lunch, we had the prelims of the PT Party in our respective classes where we had to give a presentation, on 'The most serious water issue and its solution' in our country and then had the card playing game, 'How much water do I have'. We proceeded to the session 2 of GYELS MUN. We had a team discussion and brought out debates. We went back to the Hotel to have dinner, and had a good night?s sleep!

11^th February 2015-Day 3: In the mood (Wrapped up one event!)

The second day was much better, because we knew what to do, where to go. We had three awesome lectures, all in English that day. We had lectures from South Korea, Finland, and Japan! The lectures were truly inspiring and motivating. Oh, by the way, all this was held at the Seoul National University, with 400 delegates listening to the lectures at the same time!

Then came the announcements of the Finalists of the PT Party. Hearts were thumping, out of so many delegates who gave presentations, who was going to be selected? First announcement, a delegate from Korea. Second, a delegate from Korea. Third, also a Korean! Only 1 slot left. And then they announced what I wanted, 'from the United Arab Emirates, Rohan Kapur!' My joy knew no bounds as I raced down the steps to confirm. I gave the presentation in front of 400 delegates, and went on to win the Seoul National University Graduate School of Environment Studies Award! I was extremely happy about the same!

We proceeded to group photos and then went on for our GYELS MUN session 3. Where we had group discussion and team discussion. Happy Birthday, Jenna! That was how we wrapped it up.

12^th February 2015-Day 4: The Grand Finale! (And a little bit of fun J)

We started our morning by going to South Korea?s Disneyland, EVERLAND! We stuck with the same teams as MUN for this to facilitate easier navigation. Loads of fun, that's all I can say! Then we proceeded to a tour of Samsung Engineering Co. Ltd.(SECL-pronounced ?Seckle?)  We saw engium, the engineering museum and went forward for THE final session of MUN-The resolution presentation. We all tried our best, I was the leader of Team A, in the Business Sector, and presented the resolution. All of us tried our best and Team C bagged the prize! But hey, we won the Selfie Contest held at Everland :D

We bade goodbye to the amazing team of Korea Green Foundation, that made most of this happen!

13^th February 2015-Day 5: The Last Day-Parting, Departures, and Goodbyes *sniff*

We all departed at different timings, some right after breakfast, some after lunch and some before dawn, depending on the flight timings. We had a tour of Seoul-the downtown, Myeong-dong, the subtle Insa-dong, the palace, Gyeongbokgung and were ready to leave.

Believe me fellow e-gen members, If you ever land in this summit, the hardest part is to see everyone leave with the knowledge that you will probably never see them in person. Tens of thousands of kilometers away, we had all come for one purpose, had achieved it and gone back. Keep in touch, we said to one another. Thank god for modern day technology nd social media, or we would have literally broken down!

I thank Korea Green Foundation, Mrs. Kim, Mrs. Tea and of course, TUNZA Eco-Generation, I still feel like applauding for you guys while I was writing this! To Ms. Erika and Ms. Christy, Kudos for everything.

Lastly, all I wanted to say was THANK YOU.

To the delegates.

To the chairperson.

To my mum.

To Korea Green Foundation.

To Samsung Engineering.

And To TUNZA ECO GENERATION!!!

Now, whenever I see any post, comment or picture of you, memories of meeting you will flood into my mind, Erika and Christy! To the delegates, wherever you are, I miss you :?(

I, Rohan Kapur, hereby declare in complete consciousness, that these five days, were truly, THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE!!!!!

Stay in touch, Keep Healthy and miss me -)

P.S. It was really hard to select 10 pictures from the millions of clicks!

Regards,

Rohan Kapur

Ambassador to the Middle East