Dear Host Family, It’s very nice of you to offer yourself as a host family and being willing to let another person live with you and being part of your family. I’m a girl who lives in Germany and loves to see different countries and customs. I really enjoy sports, especially horseback riding, dancing and gymnastics but also spending time with my family and friends and play card games or cook together. I also like looking after my two rabbits, reading books, playing the clarinet and singing in a choir. During the holidays I usually visit the farm and meet my big family. I often meet up with friends, help at my riding stable by teaching kids how to handle a horse and do a special group sport that only exists in Germany where you sing, dance, do gymnastics and sprint. What I like about my home country are the typical German dishes like „Schäuferle“ and festivals in summer time where livebands play traditional songs and you sit together with your friends and family at long tables but also that we have borders to many different countries so you have the opportunity to travel there without a too long journey. We have a lot of Christmas traditions like Saint Martin on the eleventh of December where you walk as a big group with self made lanterns through parks when it’s dark and sing songs, Christmas markets with booths with caramelised almonds and little presents or “Nikolaus” on the sixth of December where you fill the shoes of your family with sweets and presents. My family consists of my sister who is three years older than me and also did an exchange but to Canada, my dad who is journalist, my mom who is a media designer and me. I’m very close with them and we often do something together like baking cookies in winter time or going hiking on summer time. After my graduation in three years, I plan to travel somewhere and volunteer there for about half a year to get a little break from studying. Then I want to study something that deals with maths or sport, get a job and a house. Reasons why I want to experience life in the US are on the one hand that I once already been there and visited my aunt, uncle and cousin and found it awesome and on the other hand that the US is huge and has so many different regions with its own climate, landscape and inhabitants and is a big contrast to my life in Germany. I also like that you have the choice between various subjects at school and can choose whatever interests you. Being there in autumn time makes it possible for me to experience Homecoming, Halloween and Thanksgiving and, depending on the time I arrive, maybe also Christmas and New Year‘s Eve and get to know different American customs. Warm regards, Anne