Hello host family,

My name is Amelie, I am 15 years old. I live with my mother, my father, and my 17-year-old brother in a small house on the outskirts of a city in the south of Germany. My mother turned 50 this year. My father will be 51 this year. My brother Adrian is just 2 years older, my brother and I have been very close since I was born. He used to be my idol, and I personally don't know anyone else who gets along as well with their siblings as I do with my brother. He's the one in the family who's still a bit wary of the USA. He's graduating this year and doesn't yet know what he wants to do after graduation. That's why he's a little envious of me because I already know what I'm going to do next school year. I'm currently in the 9th grade at a high school, and Adrian goes to the same school. Ever since I first heard about the USA, I've wanted to go there. I want to get to know and try out new cultures, eating habits, etc., and I'm very open to that. My parents describe me as self-confident, independent, and motivated. Even as a small child, I wanted to do everything on my own and not have any help from my parents.

On weekends, I meet up with my friends and we bake or order pizza. I always look forward to our meetings in advance. I've already received a few awards at school, including second place in a German writing competition with two other friends.

This year, I also won first place in the Kepler Art Prize (an art competition held at my school every two years, divided into lower grades 5-7, middle grades 8-10, and upper grades 11-12), which is a great honor for me.

I'm really looking forward to meet you and live with you and learn about your culture.

Best regards, Amelie

Dear host family,

my name is Emely and i'm currently 16 years old. I don't know where to begin, so i start with a thank you. Thank you for letting a girl in your family you don't know. Thank you for giving me the opportunity of living the dream of my life. Its not self-evident, and i really apriciate that you are willing to give me a chance. Something about me, i'm a person who loves and needs social contacts, i couldn't imagine a life without my friends. Its important for me to be outside in the world and explore new things and learn with them. I need the action in my life or else i get borred ;). But don't think that i couldnt' survive a day without action, im flexible and i adapt on the family. Some day's i want to do nothing, and i really mean nothing. Just relaxing. And on other day's im super active and i need something to do. I'm a very sportly person and i would appricate if i can continiue with that. I also love animals, no matter what kind of animals, i love them all. My expectations are set low so i can be even happier when you overstep them. For example, i would wish that you're open with me and tell me what you expect from me. Its important for me to know what you expect, or what rules you have in your household so i can adapt on them. I also wish that you're willing to show me your country, like traviling around or explane things i dont understand. I wish that you welcome me and threat me well, while i do my best to match your expections. To share my culture i thought about telling you how you do things in my country, like you can open the window on tilt ;). My school is a science focused school, we experiment very often, and i learn things, i never really thought about. I love to experiment cause it’s a physical activity, and if we do something physically, it’s like i can memorialize the things they teach us better. I’m the opinion that students learn more when they do it, not just read, or talk about it. My school day is pretty simple cause my school ends at 5pm, i need to drive an hour at home so when i go immediately after the last lesson, I’m home at 6pm, then i start to learn and finish my homework’s, after that I’m very hungry so i eat something, and then it’s already 9pm. Cause my bus drives every twenty minutes, my first alarm rings at 5am, and i need to go to bed early. Between the time from coming home and learning, i tidy up my room and take out the dishes from the dishwasher. You see, i have a pretty simple, yet long school day, but I always manage to spend time with my family and friends. What i want to say is that no matter how long or busy my school day was, i will manage to help you in the household and spend time with you.

Im very exited to meet you, and i hope that we will get along with each other :)...

With friendly regards

Emely

Dear family,

my name is Liliane, I live with my parents in Germany on the edge of a large city and am in the ninth grade of a grammar school.

I have wanted to go to the USA for an exchange year for more than two years now. I am interested in this country and would like to know what it is like to live in America in a family and go to school there.

Cause I only know what it`s like to live with my parents, I would love to become a member of a family with children of the same age, older or perhaps younger.

At the weekends and during the vacations, my parents and I often do things with friends and families, where there are more children (also friends from me) besides me, which I think is really good.

On normal school days, I get up at 6.30 in the morning, have breakfast and get ready for school. My school is about 4.5 km from my home, so I can drive with my bike. School starts at 8 a.m., which goes til 3 p.m. most days. My favorite subject is art, because I like doing creative things and I like the Spanish lessons because I want to learn Spanish as well as English.

When I get back home, I eat something, rest and listen to music. I often have to do something at home for school. Once a week in the afternoon, I play volleyball in a girls' team at the club. I started this a year ago and I really enjoy it. Another hobby I've had for a long time is horse riding, which I also do once a week. At first smaller children come to ride on Shetland ponies, where I get to work as a helper. And after that, we clean and saddle the bigger ponies and then we ride on the riding arena or go for a ride.

In my other free time, I like to spent time with friends, go out for ice cream or shopping, or do some painting, baking cookies or handicrafts. I also like photography, traveling and listening to music.

And I still have one big interest and that is watching soccer, especially women's soccer . I usually watch it on TV, but I also like being in the stadium. For some time now I've also been interested in Formula 1, which I like to watch on TV.

Overall, I think I'm pretty “normal”, open, funny and friendly. If someone is in trouble, I try to listen and if there is an argument, I try to find a solution. And as a family member, I think I'm also quite tolerable.

If you think I could fit in with you and decide to take me in, I would be very, very happy and thankful.

Maybe you are also interested in German culture and life in Germany. Then of course I'll tell you everything you want to know. Maybe you like to cook and bake, in which case I can bring recipes from my home country and we can try them together. In any case, I think it would be great and very exciting if I could spend a year with you as an additional family member and will of course try to fit in as well as possible.

I really hope that it will be a good, unforgettable year for all of us.

Thank you for wanting to be my host family! And I'm really looking forward to getting to know you.

Best regards

from Liliane

Hi! My name is Edu. I am 15 years old and I come from a big family: my father Eduardo who manages the family company, my mother, who is also Engineer and works at construction company, my older sister is 19 and is studying her first year of Industry Engineering; my other sister is 17 and she is at secondary school and she wants to me a doctor; and at last my younger brother, who is 12 and is in Ireland with a host family this year. My grandmothers, often come to visit us too. In adittion, my parents are very openminded and we often host foreign students to learn Spanish and know about spanish culture.

I am an active and atheltic boy who has two main hobbies: sports and traveling; I love playing hockey, swimming, triatlon... but also enjoy traveling and meeting new people. In fact I have traveled a lot with my family and I have been in three sports summer camps abroad too. I have visited England, Ireland, USA, France, Portugal and many cities in Spain. I also like computers and I am good at math so when I grow up I want to be Engineer like my parents.

I belong to a big and open minded family, in fact my three siblings have already studied abroad for a year to Usa or England. I like pets very much i have a cat that i love a lot. her name is Dana and she is a really friendly cat. I found her on the street but she is now living with me. Right now at home we only have a cat but we used to have a dog called Bruno but he died one year ago.

We live in a big city near the sea so I like water sports too such as surfing, fishing or rowing. I principaly do triatlon as an sport but i also love Boy Scouts because i love nature and there we do things like camping or building our own house to sleep. I have been at scouts since i was 4 and i always used to go with mi parents and brothers. I also love being with friends because we have a lot of fun going to the beach or playing sports or videogames.

I have a really big family with my 3 siblings and my parents. We love each other a lot I especially love my little brother Alberto because he is a boy like me but I also love my sisters. Apart with the house family we have lot of cousins that we try to see as much as we can.

I have already been to the USA but only for 2 months so i think i have a lot of things to learn in addition to of English. Also I think that i am a really friendly, sociable, outgoing and funny person. In School I get good grades. I am a highly gifted. As I said i love computers a lot especially programing and things like that. I am learning about that in my own. I am good at math physics and Technology because you just need to understand them not like geogrephy and literture but if i want i can do it well.

I am very excited and I hope to do my best. I am realy excited about USA because i love new cultured and I think that i will learn a lot with you and not just english. I hope to do my best so that we have a wonderful year together. See you soon. Thank you.

Eduardo

Hi host family,

My name is José, I’m 14 years old and I’m from Spain. First of all, I want to thank you for welcoming me into your home. I’m really excited to live with you this year and very grateful for the opportunity.

At home, I live with my parents and my older brother. We get along really well and usually spend a lot of time together, watching movies, going for walks, or just talking. I also like helping around the house, especially when it comes to building furniture or fixing things (I’m actually pretty good at that).

In my free time, I enjoy reading, watching shows, hanging out with friends, listening to music (which I love), and playing sports. I also enjoy learning new things, especially when they’re hands-on. I think I’m a calm, responsible person with a good sense of humor.

Christmas is a very special time for my family. We decorate the house with lights, put up the tree, make traditional treats like turrón and polvorones, and get together with our relatives to celebrate. We also celebrate Three Kings’ Day, which is when we get our presents.

I’m really looking forward to learning about your culture, language, and way of life. And I’d also love to share things about my country, my traditions, and how we live here. I think it’s great to be able to exchange our cultures and learn from each other.

Thanks again for giving me this chance. I’m sure this year will be amazing and that we’ll create a lot of great memories together.

José.