Dear American family, My name is Olaya. I am a 14 years old girl who lives in Madrid (Spain). I go to a public high school close to my home (it is 1 mile from my home). I like to go to school as I enjoy learning and spending time with my friends there. My mother is a teacher at Complutense University in Madrid, where she teaches Marketing Research and Neuromarketing. She cooks very well and she likes to try new recipes that she imagines so we eat a lot of wonderful meals everyday. I like to go shopping with her or just go for a walk or have an icecream. My father is an engineer who works in the townhall, He likes to practice sports, now he plays padel and tenis, goes to swim and ride on bicycle, but he has practiced lots of other sports such as atlethics, archery, fencing, basketball, football, handball, golf and squash. He also likes reading and he likes to read the same books that I have to read for my Spanish language subject. We spend a lot of time together as we enjoy a lot doing anything. I have a sister who is 21 years old. She studies medicine at Islas Baleares University, which is a Mediterranean island. I only have the opportunity to share time with her on hollydays and when she comes home because she has not any exam close. Nevertheless I talk to her nearly everyday, as she lives there alone. I wish she would be studying in Madrid as I love all my family, and I have no cousins, uncles nor grandparents in Madrid, but she is happy there and last year. we have gone to spend some days with her, so I think that we all have got used to it. I like my city because weather here is warm in spring and autum and, although it is cold in winter and hot in summer, we can be out in the street with friends all the year, else it is not very rainy here so it is very nice to be outside. Madrid is not close to the sea, but we have many parks and sports courts, so I can go with my friends and my family to those places. I like dancing and bowling, and I love horse riding. I go once a week to dance and horse riding lessons. I also go to the gym twice a week. I like to speak foreing languages and I attend to English and French lessons at school and twice a week at home. At school I enjoy in biology and history lessons but I do quite well with every subject. I have many friends at school from different countries as Cuba, Colombia and Argentina and I enjoy listening them when they talk about their countries, the reasons why they have come to Spain, what has surprised them here and the different words and idioms they use. I also like to talk with my grandmothers, as they tell me lot of histories of the time when they were my age and they are very interesting for me. I like to spend part of my summer holidays in the village were one of my grandmothers was born, as I have lots of friends there and we do lots of things there. Also I like to go to the beach to swim in the sea on summer holidays. I am wihing to visit your county and to share with you a school year because I think it will be a challenge to live without my family and also that it will help me to know more about myself. In addition, I admire the american people that I have known and your country, and I want to learn more about your culture, traditions and of course your lifestyle and language. I would like not only to read, listen nor watch films about all that, but also to live it and to be part of it, and I think that being there with you is the only way. On the other hand, it will be a pleasure to show you a lot of things about Spain, our lifestyle and traditions, and anything you would like to ask me. I hope we can get richer in knowledge and experiences together, and get a strong and enduring relationship that I wish will last forever.