Dear Host Family, my name is Ines, and I’m from Italy. I’m extroverted, I like to meet new people and I love to learn new things. In fact, I’m curious about everything that is around me and every time I try to enrich myself as a person. I’m spontaneous and genuine, I like to live my life to the fullest creating memories with my loved ones. They see me as a fun person, energetic and sometimes clumsy, full of life, one of my favorite things is being able to put a smile on their face and to make them feel loved. I consider myself a reliable person: I always put a lot of effort into the things I do, I try my best for myself and for others, learning from my mistakes. I can therefore say that I’m very determined and not the type of person who gives up easily. I support my opinions and fight for my ideas, but I like discussing them with others to find out their point of view. Like I said, I’m energetic, but I do have a calm side and I like spending time alone as well: we all need time for ourselves to think and for this reason I also try to find time for myself to deal with that and to learn who I am. I think I would be a good Exchange Student because I’m very open-minded and not afraid to jump into new things; I love adventures, challenging myself and pushing myself beyond my limits. Also, I always help with the household chores, I’m very tidy, and it would be a pleasure to help you with those, don’t worry about that! I look forward to sharing beautiful moments and to creating tons of memories with you, it would mean so much to me to have a strong and beautiful bond I can carry with me forever. Here in Italy I live with both my parents and my two sisters (I’m the middle one). We are a big family, sometimes chaotic, and we really love each other; we are all close and in my house there is a kind of playful atmosphere. Our parents raised us with lots of travel, teaching us to love being outdoors and discovering the world; we go to the mountains or to visit cities very often. My sisters love board games and we often have game nights. I go mountain biking with my dad and cook with my mum. We find many ways to spend time together. My friends are one of the most important things in my life. We can always count on each other, I grew up with them, we’re like brothers and sisters. They were so excited for me when I told them about the Exchange Year and even though they will miss me, they want the best for me. Together we do lots of things, of all kinds: we go to the cinema, go shopping, on bike rides or we have picnics and themed dinners. I love hanging out with them and I’m confident I will find friends like this there too. Currently I'm attending a linguistic high school. In addition to English I study French and German and this leads me to be able to speak 4 languages, probably some better than others but I have a big passion and I’ll constantly improve. My favorite subjects are English literature, philosophy, and German. After high school I want to go to university, it would be awesome abroad, but I admit that I still don’t have very clear ideas about what to study or my future job. The reason is that I have many passions and I’m still discovering myself, but I aspire to a life where I do what makes me happy, that’s probably my biggest goal. If I really had to choose though, I would like to work in the special forces (maybe as a firefighter) or to become a journalist/photographer. As I mentioned before, I have many hobbies: I’ve been doing photography for a few years and I’m starting to do videography, it helps me express myself; I adore painting, especially drawing; I’m very passionate about foreign cultures and in fact I love traveling. Another thing I’m really passionate about is cinema and the thing I can't live without is sport: I've tried many, but for over 8 years I did figure roller skating and now I run and go to the gym, sometimes I also do boxing. When I decided to do the Exchange Year I immediately chose the US, because it was a dream for a long time: I grew up dreaming of the life I saw in movies (even though I know that it’s not always like that), with the prom, Thanksgiving, high schools, etc. Everything is so different and I’m very interested in American culture, I wanted to experience it myself; moreover, I wanted to go to an English-speaking country. The host family for me is fundamental. I think it's a unique experience that I'll live with you. I love the idea of being able to have a second family, a voluntary family that gets involved for me just as I’m for them, it’s so special. During these 10 months I want to evolve and reach many of the goals I've had in mind thinking of this, I want to overcome my limits and become more mature and autonomous. I’m a dreamer and finally I see a dream turning into reality. I’m truly grateful. It's hard to put into words the motivation I have and how much this means to me, but I tried. Thank you for hosting me! Ines