Dear American Parents,

I want to thank you for the opportunity you have given me to live with you in the United States. I am sure it will be an unforgettable experience for me and I am very excited. Thank you, really.

My name is Diego and I am fifteen years old. I live in a small town in the north of Spain. Some of my favorite activities are handball , which I have been practicing for eight years and I play as a right back in the Colindres team where I have won many medals in championships, martial arts, more specifically judo, which I practiced for seven years, earning a green belt, and all kinds of sports that have to do with water because I live near the beach and since I was little I have always loved swimming with my friends in the summer. In addition, whenever I could I have gone to the municipal swimming pool and I have signed up for surfing classes and I have also ridden a jet ski. I also really like animals, I have a pet rabbit called kiwi. I consider myself a happy, calm, fun and above all very adaptable person, I am always interested in the things that I like such as the culture in other countries and I like to make new friends, I love dinosaurs and my favorite toy has always been the Transformers. I like reading comics and listening to music. In summer I go to the beach a lot with my friends and we play soccer. I like video games that I usually play with my friends.

As for my family, my parents are from different places, so I have grandparents, uncles and cousins ​​divided both in the center and in the north of Spain.

I want to go with you for a year to improve a lot in the language, see the daily life of Americans and get to know the country's culture in depth like what do you eat there? What are the hours? What are the most important sports? What festivals are celebrated there and what origin do they have?. I also like to meet new people to get to know them better and to bring good things to my life.

I will also bring you culture from my own country such as food, customs, music. I will also tell you about the international festivals that we have in Spain such as San Fermín or the Descent of the Sella and also about the festivals of my town. And above all, I can speak to you in Spanish so that you know my native language.

I thank you if you welcome me in this experience of my life because I know that it can be difficult to welcome someone into your home without knowing much about them, so I hope that this letter is useful to you and I am looking forward to seeing you and talking to you and I send you a hug.

Diego.

Hello,

My name is Mathis, I am 16 years old, and I am currently in my first year of general high school in France.

My hometown is next to Paris like 5 minutes in metro, it is one of the cities with the most inhabitants per square kilometer in France, it is a city where there is everything, the atmosphere is pleasant, the houses are rather modern but I find that the inhabitants are not very friendly.

Since I was little I've been going to school in this town, there is notably my primary school, my middle school and my high school.

I consider myself an open-minded and attentive person. I'm a very generous person and like to share good times with others, I'm always listening to others and I like to discover new things . I think I'm mature enough to take on responsibilities, and I'm pretty independent.

I live with my parents ( Bruno and Laure ). My father is a production director in the cinema industry and my mother is a cost controller in an insurance company .

I also live with my older brother ( Thibaut ), who’s 20y. He also works in the film industry like my father. In addition we also live with our dog, Tokyo, an American Shepherd. She's just over 2 years old and really adorable.

We are a warm and caring family, and we enjoy spending time together, Whether it's sharing meals, doing activities or just talking about our days, for example after school, because sometimes I'm very chatty and I really like to share what I did during my school day.

At school, I am a serious student who usually gets good grades. I value my education and always try to give my best in all my subjects. I also have a great group of friends who are very important to me and fully support me in this exchange project.

If I need to describe one of my school day, I’d tell you that I get up at 7:15am, take a shower then leave for school at 8am. Then I have classes with a 1 hour break at noon then I resume until 5 or 6 p.m., I go home, I do my homework and if there is not a sporting activity. I can see my friends or relax in my free time.

One of the main reasons I want to join this program is my curiosity about other cultures and different ways of life. I’ve always been interested in discovering new things and improving my language skills, especially in English.I I'm sure living in your country would offer me a unique cultural experience and help me personally.

When I have time for myself , I like to stay active and try new things. I enjoy sports and spending time outdoors with my friends or with my family. I’m excited about the idea of living with a host family, sharing my culture, and experiencing yours. I’m looking forward to becoming a part of your daily life and learning as much as I can from this incredible opportunity.

Thank you for considering hosting me. I’m very grateful for your willingness to open your home and heart to a student like me. I hope we’ll share many great moments together, and I’m excited about the possibility of getting to know you soon.

Mathis

Dear host family,

I'm Enrique, I am 14 years old and I am also from Spain. I would like to thank you for this opportunity. I can't wait to meet you and show you things about me and my culture, including things I enjoy doing here. I also hope I can learn a lot about you, your culture and your country.

Some features that make me unique are how sensible and responsible I am, especially when facing problems. Also my curiosity and how I enjoy when learning new things. Other characteristics that make me special are how funny and cheerful I am, and how I turn bad situations into good ones (my parents say I have a special ability for that). They also would say I am a responsible and clever boy, who enjoys being with family and friends.

I will tell you a little more about my family: my mother is a very cheerful and affectionate woman, she works as a nurse and some of her hobbies are reading, cooking and watching TV shows; my father is a very hard-working and sensible man, he works as a telecommunications engineer and he enjoys watching lots of sports like soccer or basketball and reading; finally, my younger brother, who is studying 7th grade, loves playing basketball and solving Rubik's cubes, he is so much cheerful, lively and outgoing. I also have a pet, a beautiful cat called Mia.

Now, I am coursing 9th grade at a huge school that has a sports centre, a swimming pool, an enormous playground, a small church and an assembly hall. Some of my favourite subjects are Physical Education, Biology and Technology. At the moment I do not know with certainty what career I will choose in the future, I am sure it will be related to Biology or Technology, or maybe a mix of them!

I want to go to study to the USA because I think it will be a great personal and academic experience, where I can learn about other countries cultures, traditions and people. It won’t be new for me because I have already had an experience similar to this in the past, when I went to Oxford for one week, where I stayed with a local family, and I assisted to English lessons and I also went on tours through the city.

My everyday life is not so much busy, I go to school in the morning and in the afternoon, I train soccer or do homework. On weekends I usually have one or two soccer matches, I study and do my homework and then I hang out with my friends or visit my family. On my free time I play videogames, watch TV series or hang out with my friends who are very friendly and hilarious and make me have lot of fun. We usually go out to a park or a soccer field, to the cinema or bowling, while sometimes we meet to watch soccer.

I sometimes do some household chores too like removing my cat's waste from the litter box, keeping my room tidy, setting and clearing the table, taking the trash out, and sometimes doing the laundry. I still do not cook for myself, but I am starting to learn some easy dishes to cook if my mother is busy.

Greetings, and thank you again for giving me this opportunity,

Enrique

Dear Family,

I am Konstantin from Germany. I am a sporty guy and my usual day is full of activities. I like meeting friends and hope we will have a great time together. I will welcome every type of living that you could show me and I hope we are going to get along perfectly.

I play guitar every day and on Wednesdays I have lessons half an hour. Mostly I play Metallica and Eric Clapton which is also the type of music I am listening to. I like blues and country but mostly metal and hard rock and I basically listen to every guitar music. I am interested in music and would like to visit a Metallica concert one day. I hope I can borrow a guitar in school so I can continue playing.

On Tuesdays and Fridays I play Volleyball. I play in school, in my towns Volleyball club (with the older ones because it is the only exciting team) and sometimes with some people from my town. Wednesdays and Fridays I do Karate. It is an important part of my life and I did my black belt last year. I also give Karate lessons to small children and I like them very much. On Thursdays I am tutoring some guys from my school who need help with their homework. Furthermore I have a sailing license for dinghies and in summer I am also sailing sometimes with my family. I like meeting friends and with two of them I founded a small band. We already had two gigs but since we don’t have someone to sing we are not very successful. In winter holidays me and my family usually travel to Austria and go skiing. I also like climbing which I do sometimes on the weekend. 

My school is one of the best public schools nearby. The teachers are mostly nice and I am good in nearly all subjects without really doing anything. My favorite subjects are sciences and I am surprisingly good in arts this year. In Germany our school day is short and usually I am at home at one pm. I have heard that school days in the US are longer. My school has about 1.000 students.

I also like speaking French which I learned in school and I improved it on two exchanges to France. In my one month exchange I lived with a guest family. I think that gave me the best impression of the french culture and their way of living. I am still in contact with them and in July we are planning to go there to watch the Tour de France.

During my year abroad I would like to experience another culture and everything that belongs to it. I have no problems with helping you in the household and I would love to share my culture to you. Maybe I can do diner some days or I tell you typical German things. Maybe you can also visit me in Germany after the exchange. 

When I spent the year abroad I want to continue my activities I do in Germany for not being worse than before when I get back. I also want to try new activities which only exist in America, like baseball or barbecue. 

Thank you for your interest in hosting me. If you have questions it would be nice if we could write e-mails or skype before our time together.

I look forward to see you soon. 

Konstantin 

Hi, 

I am Pepe, I am fourteen years old by the time I am writing this letter, and I come from a small island. I have been living here since I was born in 2010. I have one sister called Lola, who is older than me, and with whom I have a very good relationship. Both of my parents live with us, my father is called Jesus and my mum Carolina. I live too with my two dogs, both of them adopted.

To describe myself, I would say that I am a very sweet person. I try to make the people around me be always happy, and so many times I give up things that are important to me so that other people can feel well. But at the same time, I am a very competitive and athletic person that always is trying to improve my talent in all the spots that I practice. Another point to know about me is that I am a very sensitive person and that’s why when I feel that someone around me feel awful, I try to understand him and try to help because that is what I like that other people do when something happens to me.

I also really like to hang out with my friends and do activities with my family like going to have breakfast to a restaurant together or doing excursions around the island. But unfortunately as I am a high performance sailor I do not have enough time to do those activities very often because I train every weekend all the day long and also on Friday afternoons and some Thursdays. During  the summer I train around 40 hours per week so when I have a free day, I take advantage of it. I also play volleyball and soccer with my friends. I love traveling and learning about others cultures, foods, languages...

My sister who is three years older than me is now studying her last year in high school. Even though sometimes we get angry, we love each other very much. Also with my mum and with my dad, we have a very good relationship, and we have a lot of confidence.

On my mother’s family side we are 12 cousins, 5 uncles each of them and my grandmother. On the other side of my family we are 5 cousins, the two sisters of my dad, my grandparents, and my great-grandmother who is now 95 years old. We are one big family!

I’ve had a lot of friends, unfortunately some of them  have moved to another school or even a different region. With some I’ve lost all the contact, but it hasn’t happened to everyone. For example, some twins called Ian and Max have always been with me in the school, and we are still good friends. And the friends that are at this moment more important to me are called Eric and Nacho. Both of them are incredible people, and they help me all the time that I need it. With Eric, we like to walk around the park, go to a cafe or eat some snacks.

The reason why I want to live and study for one year in the USA is because I want to improve my level of English, to meet new people, to live with cultures different to mine and to see how people in other countries live.

Thank you very much for take time to read me and maybe choose me, I’m looking forward to meeting you. Have a great day!

Pepe