Dear Host Family, First of all I want to thank you so much for willing to participate in the exchange program. I really appreciate you for letting my live with you and being part of your family. You play a big part in making my American dream come true, I am forever greatful. I am a girl from the Netherlands. I am very social, like making new friends and learn new things. I am so exited to begin a new chapther in my life and I am happy that you want to be a part in it! I am creative, straightforward, sporty, and outgoing. I would like to participate in activities at my new school in America. I also want to try new things like classes that we do not have in the Netherlands or maybe give a new sport a try. My English is not bad but there is always room for improvement so I am looking forward to becoming fluent in English. I have a lot of friends in school and more outside of school, I like hanging out with them and do fun things, like going tot the mall, see a movie or just going to someone’s house and talk about anything. My friends are really important to my, because they bring out het best in me. I live in a small town with my parents and brother. I am very greatfull for my parents, because they always support me and play a big part in making my American dream come true. My brother and I talk about a lot of things but most of all about sports. I love them all so much. I also have an aunt and three cousins. I don’t see them very often, but when we see each other we always have a great time. My hobby’s vary from sports to things to do at home. Field hockey is the sport that I play the most, I train 2 times a week and I have a game on Saterday. I have been playing for 10 years and I am getting quite skilled. I also like to go skiing and ice skating. Those are the sports that I enjoy the most, but there is a sport that I can not play myself and that is Formula 1. Every Sunday when there is a race I am ready for the race to start! But hanging out with my friends and family are also high on my list. I also have hobby’s that I can do at home. My biggest hobby at home is probably watching movies, series and listen to music. Another thing I like to do is baking and playing (board,card) games. I also really love going for car rides in the evening with my dad or brother. I see this exchange year as the first big step of my future education. I expect to get more confidence and improve my English. Right now I have a few ideas of what I want to do after I finished high school. I am interested in Event Management and Human Resources Management, but I am not quite sure. I hope that the exchange year will help me to clarify my furture goals. The reason why I want to go the the U.S. is, because ever since I heard about it I have been in love with the idea. The idea of trying something new and living the american dream excites me. I want to learn about your culture, the way you live and how school is in America, how different it is from the Netherlands and if it is just like in the movies. I am exited to meet you and to make new friends. Another reason why I want to go is, because I want to get to know myself better. What I mean by that is, I want to get out of my comfortzone, explore new things and places. I also want to show and tell you about some Dutch traditions such as traditional hollidays like Kingsday and Sinterklaas and traditonal foods and habbits like stamppot, biking and much more! I have been wanting to go on an exchange year for over 5 years now. It gives me the best feeling in the world to know that my adventure is finaly going to happen. So once again thank you so much! I can not wait to finally meet you in person. Kind regards, Isabel