Dear host family, My name is Jona. I am very happy and excited that I can stay with you in the USA for half a year. I’m really looking forward getting to know you and your life in the USA. However, above all, I’m really grateful that you are willing to be my host family for this half of a year. I life with my parents Anke and Stefan and my sister Flora in a small town in Germany near the river Rhine. My home town is very beautiful – and very old. It was founded 2000 years ago and is famous for its big cathedral. It is also famous for its delicious pretzels. My sister and I visit the same secondary school. Right now, I’m in tenth grade. Every morning I ride to school by bike. It takes about 10 minutes to get there. My class room lessons are normally over at 1 pm, but there are usually also a lot of homework I have to do in the afternoon. My favorite subjects are maths, sports and social studies/politics. I like playing soccer and tennis. A lot of my friends play with me in these two clubs. We train two times a week each, so four times a week in total, and during many weekends we have competitions. I also did a test to become a soccer referee, so I have soccer games where I referee at the weekend, too. In addition to sports, I like dancing, too. I’ve learned ballroom dancing, that means waltz, cha-cha-cha, jive, and others, for a year and a half now. It’s lots of fun because I’m there with my friends. In the past, I used to do this three to four times a week but right now I just take part in one to two lessons a week. In my free time I like to meet up with my friends. Beside the fun part, of course, I have to do duties at my home, too. One of them is helping with the dishes or cook for my family and myself. I also do my own laundry. Furthermore, I supported my parents when we helped refugee families coming to Germany. I’m very happy to life in a country which is peaceful and quite rich. Therefore, it is important for us to help these people who had to leave their homes because of war and other terrible things. I also like travelling to other countries with my family in our holidays. I have been to a lot of countries with my family, for example, we visited France, Spain and Italy and as well some countries outside Europe, like Chile, Thailand and Bali. Most of the time we stayed at the beaches but sometimes we went hiking, too. I like hiking but actually I prefer more laying at the beach and relax. We have already visited the USA, too. We have been to New York, the Atlanta region and the west of the USA. I love to make new experiences and like to get to know new cultures and get in touch with young people at the campsite. Maybe you ask yourself why I have chosen the US as my host country. The reason is my sister who stayed a year in the US for an exchange, too. She had a great time there and with the experiences I made during our vacation in the USA it was quickly clear to me that I’d like to get to know your country, the American way of life and the high-school spirit myself – and of course I want to improve my English. I’m very excited to come to the US and meet you. I’m very glad that you will give me the opportunity to make this experience and to live with you and to become a member of your family. Thank you so much! Now I am really curious to get to know you and I am looking forward having a great time with you. With kindest regards, Jona