Dear future host family, First of all, I would like to say a huge thank you for giving me the opportunity to live with you for a whole year and to become a part of your family. I’m incredibly grateful for that. I hope you are okay and since we don’t know each other yet, I would like to tell you something about me and my life. So, my name is Josie and I live in a small village. There is nearly nothing you can do here. I have to drive to nearby cities to go to the cinema or to go shopping. My hobbies are playing the keyboard, singing or reading. In the future I want to be a paramedic and want to travel. I go to the high school in the neighbor town and visit the 9th grade. My favorite subjects are music and PE, especially PE when we play basketball or volleyball. When I’m in the US I really would like to join the basketball team. I like going to school because I can learn new things and deal with all sorts of different topics, even if it can be difficult. My friends and I always telling each other what we did the last day, at the weekend or at the holidays. We don’t meet up that often outside of school because everyone lives in another little village. I would say that I have a good connection to my friends. Anyways, I would like to share my everyday life with you. So, I wake up at 5.15 am and then I get dressed. After that I eat breakfast and pack my schoolbag. At 6.25 am I go to the bus station. 7.40 am school starts and it ends normally 2.05 pm. Then, at 2.40 pm I’m driving with the bus home. There I do my homework until 5 pm. During my one hour free time I play the keyboard, read, go with my dog or text with my friends. At 6 pm I normally eat dinner with my family. After that I watch tv alone or with my mom and at 9 pm I go to bed. My personal interests lie in cooking and baking and I would like to cook or bake some German specialties for you. For my conditions, I would say that my family is huge. I have my mum, a stepdad and a stepbrother on the one side and on the other side I have my dad and my half-brother. Every second weekend I’m at my dad’s house and the other days I live with my mom. In the holidays I go on vacation with my mum. My dad has never taken me on vacation before. My mom works as an office manager, my stepfather works in a large construction company as an excavator driver and my dad as a sales representative for agricultural technology. I spend a lot of time with my family, especially with my mom because she is my favorite person and I can tell her everything. I have two dogs, a Labrador and a Bernese Mountain dog. Now to my character. Personally, I would say that I’m shy, funny, have a little bit of mood swings, kind, committed, polite and helpful. During my year abroad, I would like to acquire considerable language skills, make new friends and develop my personality. Also, I hope I can join a basketball team or another sports team. I would like to get to know the school system in the USA and face the daily challenges far away from home. From the beginning, I wanted to do my exchange year in the USA because I want to learn something about the culture, the country itself, the people who live there and if it’s just like in the whole movies or series. I hope that you will include me in the family life and look forward to living a year with me. I hope I could give you a little insight into my life and I’m already now so excited and happy to finally get to know you! Thank you! Your faithfully, Josie