Dear Host Family, I am writing this letter to introduce myself and to express how excited I am about the opportunity to live with you during my exchange year in the USA. First of all I would like to thank you for taking me into your home and giving me the opportunity to experience life in the USA. Ever since I was little I have always wanted to spend some time in the USA and to experience life there. I am really looking forward to learning about your culture, traditions and daily life. The USA is very different from Germany so I am really thrilled to have the opportunity to experience a different culture and life style. Something I have always wanted to experience is Thanksgiving and Halloween in the USA. Both of these festivals are less celebrated in Germany, especially Thanksgiving, as it is hardly celebrated at all. I am also really looking forward to experiencing and further understanding football, baseball and cheerleading. In Germany we don't have school sport teams and people mostly play soccer instead of football or baseball. Thats why I am really excited to experience this in the USA. A bit about me: I enjoy spending time with my friends and family or doing sports like going to the gym, swimming and snowboarding. I go to the gym with one of my friends four to five times a week. The gym is about five minutes away from my home so it is pretty easy to get there. I mostly swim in the summer due to us having an outdoor pool so it is practical for me to swim right at home. I also love snowboarding with my family in the winter. With my friends I like going to the cinema or hang out in our town, sometimes we also go shopping. At home we also like to bake and cook together. When I am alone I like to read or listen to music. Sometimes I also like to draw although I am not that good at it. I often spend the weekends with my family and we do things like walk our dog, go somewhere or just watch a movie. During the holidays we like to travel and during the winter holidays we always go snowboarding together. I think my family would describe me as an open minded, friendly and responsible person as I am reliable when asked to do something and I tend to take my commitments seriously. I also like getting to know new cultures and people and I think others would say that I am approachable and easy to talk to. My favorite subjects in school are history, English and French as I am pretty interested in learning new languages so I am able to talk to people all over the world. I am also really interested in history wether its European history or American history, I find all types fascinating. I would also like to describe a typical school day for you so that you can imagine my life a bit better. On a typical school day, I wake up at 6 am and then get ready and eat something before I take the bus to school at 6:50 am. I usually have 6 lessons, then school ends at 12.50 pm, except on Mondays when I have 7 lessons so school ends at 2 pm and on Tuesdays when I have 8 lessons so school ends at 3.15 pm. After school I take the bus home and eat lunch except on Mondays an Tuesdays because on these days I eat lunch at school. After eating I usually go to my room to do my homework and relax a bit. Afterwards I either go to the gym or meet up with my friends. After I finish school I would like to study law and become a judge. It has been my dream for a pretty long time now and I think being a judge is a good job as you can help people get justice by listening to both parties and coming to an objective verdict in the end. I am especially excited about getting to know American culture better and perhaps also sharing my culture with you. I would be very happy to cook or bake a few American and a few German dishes with you in order to exchange our cultures. I am sure that this will be an amazing experience and I am truly grateful to whoever opens their home to me! Looking forward to meeting you soon! Best wishes, Emmi