Dear American Family, Hello, my name is Fatima, though my family members and friends call me Izzy, and I'd like if you did the same. I was born into a family with four older brothers and no sisters, my mother had a daughter before me but she sadly passed away before I was born which makes me a Replacement child (a term used to refer to a child conceived shortly after the parents have lost another child) being an only girl and being very young compared to my brothers led to my parents being very protective of me so I didn't have much responsibilities at home except their constant pressure for me to do perfect academically and put all my effort into working on my future and I'm sure my exchange year can offer me the opportunity to rely more on myself, love my parents but they're always too worried about me to let me experience any self dependence which is understandable since they lost a child before having me so I know it's not their fault. I currently live with my parents. I have 2 married brothers; one of them moved out a month ago with his wife, and the other is still living with us, and his wife and his 2 year old daughter are also with us, as well as our housemaid, who is honestly a part of our family. Usually I'm looking forward to our family lunch on Friday when everyone gets together and catches up with each other. We live in the same house, but I'm usually busy with school and everyone is at work, so when we take the time to catch up on our Friday's family lunch, it really makes a difference. I have many interests, such as reading books, hairstyling, listening to music, watching shows and movies, and I absolutely love new experiences and learning about different cultures. I'm the type of person who is very passionate about my interests and my favourite things, probably a little bit more than the average person, such as my favorite colors, or my favorite music artists. I am a very social person, so I have many friends, but I have 2 friends that I would consider my closest. We're always hanging out together at school, and occasionally they would visit my house, and we'd chat and sometimes play video games together, sometimes film personal vlogs together, and listen to music together. We love doing karaoke, which is probably my favourite activity to do together. Moreover Bahrain might be a small country, but it only makes its citizens closer together; everyone knows each other most of the time, and even though it's small and we're used to it, it's still a very beautiful place. I wouldn't want to be from any other country. Many relatives of ours have had cancer, such as my aunt, who had it twice and had to live with us when I was younger, and it really is very scary to me, so I want to be a dermatologist because you can help identify some types of skin cancer while also being related to skincare, which I'm very interested in. I am looking forward to learning to rely on myself and be stronger outside of my family. I want to share my culture with people, i want to have more responsibilities, and I want to experience all the American things I don't get to in my country. Fatima