Dear host family, I am really looking forward to getting to know you. With this letter, you can get to know me better and gain insight into my life. I have long dreamed of spending a year abroad. I have always been interested in different cultures, traditions, and ways of interacting, but I absolutely want to be with my friends in the same year group and finish school. My friend from kindergarten and I have been looking forward to our graduation ball for years. She is currently doing a year abroad in Arizona and is really enthusiastic about it. She was the reason why I took the leap and am now fulfilling my dream of a high school year. Traveling is a big part of who I am. Since I was two years old, I have been going on vacation every year with my family in our caravane. I have already been to many European countries, and when I was eight years old, I went on a backpacking trip with my family in Thailand for two weeks. On this vacation, I got an insight into our diverse world for the first time. I was fascinated by the living conditions, the culture and customs. We traveled two more times to different parts of Thailand. In 7th grade, I had my class trip to Stratford, where I stayed with three friends in a host family. I really enjoyed that time, and it was also the first time I had the experience of staying with a host family. There, I learned how to bake scones. In host families, culture is conveyed best because you get to live right in the middle of it. I am really looking forward to getting to know your culture and sharing mine with you. A year ago, I went to France on a youth exchange. Together with other teenagers, I flew to France for a week, where I stayed with a host family. Once again, I only had good experiences. I really enjoyed being there with to communicate with the family even when we did not speak the same language. This year I went on a class trip again, but this time to Spain. There I was with the same three friends in a host family as in Stratford. This time the apartment was very small and very hot, but I enjoyed the week with the family, because it allowed me to learn a lot about the life in Granada. Even though the countries are close to Germany, life varies greatly from family to family. Even though traveling has a lot of wonderful experiences, in my view, getting to know people is the most beautiful part. I am very grateful that my family has already shown me so much in my life and always supports me. We enjoy spending time together. On weekends we go on outings, and in the evenings we often watch movies together. In the summer we watch them on a screen outdoors in our garden, and in the winter inside our living room. I love watching movies. My favorite movies are “Forrest Gump“, all the “Harry Potter“ movies, and “Dead Poets Society“. The best movies are always the ones you can watch multiple times and keep noticing something new each time. I also read books from time to time, but not because I like reading, rather because the stories captivate me so much that I don’t want to stop reading. I especially enjoy reading historical books that give insight into everyday life in a particular era. I also love being creative. Painting and drawing are activities that help me relax. Two years ago, I started drawing faces. Nowadays, I like painting people in an abstract style. Besides that, I really enjoy swimming and sailing on the lake with my sister. In the summer, I like skateboarding and practice a few tricks, even though I’m not really advanced at it. I also really enjoy playing the guitar. When I was a little child, my dad often played songs for us on the guitar, which is the reason I started learning it. These things define me and are part of my life. I am really looking forward to soon being able to share these things with you. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter and learn more about me. I am very grateful to be allowed to be part of your family life and am already looking forward to our time together. With best regards, Louisa