Synda Arfaoui
Sep 6, 2018 · 3 min read

I usually don’t write a lot. I am not fond of the way language expresses my thoughts because there’s always some of what I really want to say that gets lost in the words and sentences. This time, however, I can’t even think of another way in which I can make the feelings, memories and truth look real and clear.

On February 20th, 2018, I received one of the most waited for e-mails in my life so far. I received a “congratulations on your selection to participate in the MEPI Student Leaders Program”. This is my second year applying to the program and now that I lived the experience and I am reflecting on it, I am grateful that I was rejected in 2017. The experience as it was this summer wouldn’t have been any better if I went last year. I thought I was happy and excited to go to the United States of America. I mean, I was. The real experience was not the US, it was the people I went and lived there with. At some point before travelling to the US, I was assigned to Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana with 14 other people. Most of us, I remember, were disappointed because there was no city life out there, there were no big malls or big events one could attend. Where I stand now, I’d do whatever it takes to go back there for a week with the same people.

I insist on the people being the most enriching part of it because I learned more from them than I did from books or lectures. I learned what real friendship meant. Now that we’re all back home, I am learning that distance isn’t real if know how to hide it and act as if we’re there all together. I learned that the Middle East and North Africa had so much potential to rely on if only we were given the care we had there, the attention and the appreciation we now lack once we’re in our respective countries. I learned that Palestinian girls are the prettiest, I learned that the Lebanese are the softest, the Algerians have a high sense of patriotism, the Moroccans talk so fast and cook good food. We all also learned so much stuff from Americans and we now have American friends and that friendship will not be broken even if there are 7 or more hours between our time and theirs. Not only did I discover so much the world but also I got so much insight about myself. I did things that I would have never done here. I got inspired by every single person that I shared that journey of a lifetime with and now that experience, that place and those people have a huge place in my heart.

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