Tension between Middle Eastern countries and America have recently been high.

Killian Dumont did not know a single word of Arabic when she boarded her flight to Jordan for a seven week exchange program. Over the past year she had spent countless hours writing essays and going to interviews, competing for an opportunity to travel with the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y).

The NSLI-Y is a government-run program that helps students learn other languages by sending them to foreign countries and allowing them to practice communicating in the most productive ways possible. The goal is to teach students languages that are less commonly studied in the west, such as Arabic and Mandarin, which might become more prevalent in the near future.

Killian’s parents were concerned that she was going to Jordan because of the negative attention that the Middle East has been receiving. Killian, however, said this is one of the main reasons that she wanted to go.

“There are a lot of negative stereotypes about Arabs,” she said, “and I wanted to go to the Middle East to experience the culture for myself and make my own judgements.” She wanted to dispel the rumors about these countries to eventually help establish a strong relationship between America and the Middle East by pursuing a career in international relations.

In Jordan, Killian spent most of her days in class learning the Arabic language. She spent five hours per day in a classroom with the other NSLI-Y students. The rest of her time there was spent experiencing the Jordanian culture.

“After class, we would do something different every day,” Killian said. Some of the more memorable parts of her trip were meeting with the Palestinian ambassador and talking to organizations that dealt with water issues, education and refugees.

She learned that people in the Middle East are not that different from people in America and the rest of the world. “People were extremely hospitable and generous,” she said. Killian noticed that one of the only differences between people in the Middle East and America is the way that they look.

“Modesty is valued a lot more in Jordanian culture. Women cover their hair in public and no one wears shorts or revealing clothing,” Killian said. Killian is planning on spending another year in Jordan after she graduates high school.

“They are living normal lives, and fighting just as hard, if not harder against terrorism as we are in the West,” Killian said.

“I learned that cooperation between the stable regions of the Middle East and the U.S. will be vital in securing a peaceful future.”