Dear future host family, My name is Leonie, I am 15 years old, and I am very happy to introduce myself to you. I live in France with my parents and my little sister Manon. We are quite close, and I'm especially pretty close with my little sister, who is 12 years old. We also have an old cat called Rukia, who is now 17 years old and we love her so much, she is like a people in my family. I live in a somewhat rural area, in a large house with a small garden. At school, I am studious, and I have always found schoolwork easy, so I don't have to work very hard since I was little, although of course I do work hard when I don't get there. I am an unremarkable student, and this year I started my second year of secondary school, studying the general curriculum with no options. Outside of school, I have been playing basketball for five years now. I train twice a week and have matches every weekend. We often have family meals at the weekend, which is a kind of tradition to keep in touch even though we all live quite far apart, so that we can stay close to each other, and we can keep going have contact with all member of my family. When I don't have anything to do on Wednesdays and other days, I go out with my friends whenever I can. I really enjoy going out on the town with them, shopping or just hanging out together, because even though we've all been into different secondary schools now, we try to keep in touch as best we can. Otherwise, I really enjoy writing and watching documentaries about interesting true facts. Since I would very much like to work in psycho-criminology later on, or jsut psychology, watching documentaries interests me greatly and allows me to learn. In winter, we have an appartement in the mountains, and we go skiing, which I really enjoy. I go with my grandad, who I'm very close to. He's still very fit and loves taking us on trips and helping us discover new things. I learnt to ski thanks to him. People often say that I'm sociable, cheerful and full of life, but also sensitive. I love making new friends, and I am extremely curious about my surroundings and love discovering new things. I did an internship in a nursery school when I was in Year 9, and that's how I discovered that I really like children, both looking after them, playing with them and spending time with them. Taking care of myself is very important to me, so I really enjoy doing things like applying face masks and pampering myself. I want to spend a year in the United States because it has been my dream since I was little to live the American dream there, but above all to discover a new culture that is completely different from my own, to discover a new home, to step outside my comfort zone and to meet new people. I would also really like to become bilingual. I can offer you joy, good humour, affection and help with everyday tasks. I am really looking forward to sharing my world with you and discovering yours. Thank you so much for welcoming me into your family; I can't wait to meet you! Leonie.