Dear future host family, I would like to say thank you very much for hosting me during my exchange year in the USA. I am looking forward to start this exciting trip, but of course I am also a bit nervous. My name is Mathis, I come from Germany. I love to be outside and I do sports. I often play volleyball and basketball with my friends. For 7 years I am a member of a table tennis club, so I also spend much time in our gym. We practice normally twice a week, additionally we have competitions every month. I also like music very much. I am listening to music whenever it is possible. I like a wide range of music, from Jazz to old German hits. Since 2019 I am learning to play the trumpet. At the moment I play the trumpet in an orchestra, additionally I have private lessons in our music school. Does anybody out of your family play an instrument? Since this summer, I attend the 10th grade in a high school in my hometown. We have a lot of different subjects like art, music, biology and history. My favorite subjects are mathematics and PE. In the high school we have to learn two foreign languages. So, I have been learning English since the 5th grade and Spanish since the 6th grade. I live with my parents and my 20 year old sister in an apartment of a very old multifamily house. My mother and my father are working in different IT companies in our town. My sister finished high school this year, she wants to study psychology. She spent a year abroad participated in an exchange year as well, she went to Wyoming in 2020. We are a family that loves to travel, especially in the summer vacations we never stay within Germany and go at least to one of our neighboring countries. So, we have had the chance to get to know a lot of different countries of Europe, their cultures, their food and their customs and ruptures. We also love the nature, so we often go hiking to explore the area. This summer we flew to Ireland for three weeks to enjoy the green (and wet) landscape. Have you ever visited Ireland? During my year in America I would love to become a part of your family. I want to spend a year in US to see more parts of the earth. I want to get to know a different school system, I want to see the real American life in a family and I want to get new friends from the other part of the world. Here I often prepare food for myself or for my family. I would also like to prepare a German dinner for you. In my future I definitely want to do something with cars. No matter if that is as a car mechatronics engineer, car salesman or something else. It would be really nice to become a part of your family. I am looking forward to hear from you. Tschüss (the German Good bye) Mathis