Dear Host Family, First of all, thank you very much for hosting me for an entire year. I know this will be an experience that will change my life. I like traveling and would like to visit many places in the world. I have written a list of all the places I want to visit, so every time I manage to visit one of them, I mark it on my list. In this experience, I really hope to be able to grow and mature, to build good relationships with you, with my future teachers, and future friends. I hope I can learn a lot from this experience and discover many new things. I am really very curious to discover your culture. I would also like to convey and tell you something about my dear Italy. I would like to tell you about my family: it is made up of my mother, her name is Annamaria, my father Maurizio, my brother Christian who is 11 years old, and my little dog Mike. I have a wonderful relationship with them, I love discussing and asking for advice, watching movies, joking, and visiting new places... Besides mom, dad, and brother, my family is also made up of many cousins, uncles, and grandparents. Let's say we are an extended family. I really love all the members of my family, but unfortunately, I don't see them every day, because my relatives live in Naples. I love going to Naples, in fact in the summer, at Christmas or Easter I always go there and I really enjoy it. I am also lucky enough to have several cousins my age and I love them immensely. You know, I'd like you to visit Naples, it's really beautiful, maybe one day I'll be able to show you. As for me, I consider myself a respectful and kind girl, I'm a bit introverted, but when I start to feel at ease, I change completely. I love to listen to people and give advice if they have any problems. I love to dance, in fact, I've been doing classical and contemporary dance since I was 5 years old. I also did hip-hop for a year and would love to do it again. For me dance is a really fundamental point in my life, it's the way I let off steam when I have problems or bad days. I'm really grateful to my parents for letting me try it. Even my teachers have passed on a lot to me, they have raised me, in fact, my dance school is my second home, also because I spend many hours of the day there. Besides dancing, I really like listening to music. Some of my favorite singers are Rhianna, The Weekend, Travis Scott, and BLANCO, who is an Italian singer... I generally like many types of music and what are your favorite singers or musical genres? I also like to read, usually romance or crime books, or, when inspired, I like to write, usually some of my thoughts. I also love watching movies or TV series, my favorites are: Outer Banks, Anne with an E, The kissing booth, High school musical, and Jumanji... instead, do you like watching movies or TV series? Which ones? Finally, I love the sea, I spend the whole summer by the sea. It relaxes me just to see it and hear the sound of the waves, then its colors that change from blue to turquoise are wonderful. At school I'm a good student, I always follow what I'm assigned, I'm polite and I have good grades despite the few hours of study due to a lot of dancing. My favorite subjects are English and Psychology, and I'd also like to try to study Criminology, which here in Italy can only be studied at a university. At school I have a small group of friends that I really care about: Martina, Emma, and Summer are very good friends. With them I laugh a lot, they are good companions. Then I have other friends, in addition to those from dance and school, I would like to tell you about Laura and Alessia. They have been my friends since we were 3, they are so very special. I really enjoy being with them and I would do anything because their company makes me feel really good. We have very different personalities, but we get along really well. I didn't even tell you about the meaning I have regarding photographs. I love taking pictures with my friends, with my cousins, with my family... photos are very important to me because they hold so many memories, in fact, I often print them so I can remember those moments. My room is full of photos and I really care about each of them, I don't know what to do if I lose them. What are your habits instead? What do you usually eat? I love food, both salty and sweet, but I'm not very good at cooking, I'd say I'm a bit messy. I'd like to learn to cook, we could try to make a typical American dish together, maybe a cake. How about it? In short, it will be a long experience and I can't wait to meet you, discover the USA, and tell you all about me and my life. I hope it's a wonderful experience and I thank you again. I hope you enjoyed my letter. Greetings, Ylenia