Dear host family, First of all, I would like to thank you very much for taking part in the exchange programme. It is certainly not always easy to accommodate strangers in one's private environment. However, I am pleased that you may allow me to do an exchange year with you. I want to do an exchange year to get to know the culture and normal life. Of course, I also want to improve my English and make new friends at school, which may go beyond the year. I think this year I will learn a lot about myself and come back home even more confident. The idea of going abroad for a year started with a vacation in New York. The city, the people and life fascinated me so much that the idea of staying abroad matured. Then I talked to exchange students at my school and let them tell me how it was. As a result, my desire to take part in the exchange programme was firmly established. My name is Jakob and I come from a rural area in Germany. I live in my own house with my family. My family includes my parents and my two brothers. I have an older brother and a younger brother. My grandmother also lives with us. My father is an instructor in the fire brigade and tries to introduce young people to the daily life of a firefighter. He himself was active in the service for over 30 years. My mother is a trained bank clerk and ran a branch for many years. After giving birth to us children, she now works at our local primary school. So she can take very good care of us in the afternoon. With such a large family there is always something going on and it never gets boring. We have a large court and many animals live with us. They're all outside, in the house we only have an aquarium with fish. Outside we take care of chickens, geese, rabbits and two pigs. So it's always a lot of work that I try to help with. I mow the lawn and help a lot with all kinds of repairs. I was raised as a Christian and since my mother is also a volunteer in the church, I also mow the lawn on the church grounds. I go to secondary school in the neighboring town. Every day I ride my bike there. I want to do my A level there and then start a dual degree in mechanical engineering. Everything that has to do with machinery and technology interests me very much. In my spare time, I also like to take care of my younger brother, help him with his homework, play games and exercise with him. When he's unhappy, I try to build him up and motivate him. I share many common interests with my older brother. We often go to all kinds of sporting events together. In my spare time, I play handball. Twice a week I go to training and on the weekend I take part in points games. I also like to train our youngest handball players from time to time and sit in the courtroom during games. It takes a lot of my freetime. My circle of friends consists of handball players from my team and of course also of classmates. When we meet, we do normal things, talk a lot, and go out to dinner. But I also like to be at home and work independently in my room with different things. I am happy to be able to share many common experiences and events with my host family. I want to be part of the family and try to settle in. I hope we can share our humour together. I would like to introduce you to the German culture and prepare a typical German dish. Maybe you even like it. I would like to attend sports activities at school. I am open to any kind of sport and I look forward to discovering new things. I am looking forward to a great time with you! Best wishes Jakob