Dear host family, first, I would like to thank you for reading my letter and spending time on getting to know me better. We never met – so I hope the following lines will give you an impression about me, my life and why I would like to spend half a year in the USA. My name is Clemens and I live in Germany. My friends describe me as an open-minded, funny, spontaneous and reliable Person. Spending time with my friends, listen to music and joining sport events like Ice Hockey matches are my favorite things to do. I am living together with my parents Sandra &Sebastian, my 13-year-old brother and my little sister(11). I have a close relationship to my siblings; we spend a lot of time together and as the oldest one I support them in everything they need help with. I also support my parents looking after them when they are working. Sometimes we argue with each other, but in the end, I am very glad to have them around me. We make jokes together and have fun. My brother and I sometimes play video games together. It is always fun because we can laugh about the same things. I have a really good relationship to my parents. My father works a lot; he is a lawyer and my mother also has a lot of work as a kindergarten teacher. I try to help them whenever I can. I have some special household chores to do like emptying the dishwasher, taking out the trash as well as tidying up my room. Both of my parents raised me to be a loving, honest and responsible person with an own opinion. In fact, I love them all so much and I really enjoy the time with my whole family. We all live together in a city near Cologne. Spending my free time in the city is awesome, going to the movies, shopping or just hanging out with some of my friends. I like to hang out with my friends and do some sportive activities with them. We play tennis go for a bike tour or just go bowling. Besides my family, my friends are the most important people in my life. I have one best friend,he is also in my age and lives next door. I also have some very good friends; we laugh a lot together. I can count on them, and we always have so much fun together. On the weekends we go out, go to sport events or go to concerts together. Besides my friends I also have some other interests, and music is one of them. I have been playing the trumpet for almost 8 years and played in an orchestra for around 3 years, it really makes a lot of fun. I am also interested in photography. My father is being interested in it and so am I for the last year. When we are on holidays, I made a lot of experiences with my camera and I am trying to figure out what is the best picture and how I can optimize it. I like taking great pictures from the sunset as well as from the mountains or other landscapes. Especially last summer, when we spent our summer break in the USA I took a lot of pictures with my Iphone and my digital camera. This makes a lot of fun, and it remembers me of the different places I have been with my family. When I don not spend my free time with my friends or my family, I have a part time job in a bakery in my hometown to supplement my pocket money. This job makes a lot of fun and I like being with my colleagues and in contact with our customers. I attend the 10th grade of my school close to the place where I live. My favorite subjects in school are English,Biology, Politics and History. I like to speak English because I know that it is very important for my future carreer to speak this language. I recognize it every day by my father who speaks English in his company the whole day. My mom also speaks English in kindergarten more and more because of the families who come from Spain or England to live in Germany . So English is one of my favorites in school. I like Biology, Politics and History because I like to know as much as possible about the world around me. Probably you will ask yourself why I want to be an exchange student. I think it is a great opportunity to meet new people, getting to know the „American way of life“, improve my English and make new experiences. My father was an exchange student while he was 16 as well, also my aunt. Both talke about their experiences in a way that makes me curious and excited of the time to come, so that I do not even think about what it means leaving my parents’ house and everything I know behind. I am so excited about the stay! I am looking forward to get to know you and hope I will be able to share with you somethings about the German way of life as well. I am so thankful that you consider hosting me. So I hope I will hear from you and even more to be a part of your family, Yours, Clemens