Dear host family, My name is Pelin, I am 15 years old, I live in France, and I would like to spend an exchange year in the United States at the start of the next school year. There are four of us in my family: my parents, my older sister, and me. My mother is French, her name is Mélanie, she is a doctor, and she shares a passion with me, which is horse riding. My father is Turkish. His name is Ersoy. He is a hotelier and has passed on his love for his country to me. Finally, my sister Ela is 17. We are two years apart and, like me, she has dual French-Turkish nationality. In our daily lives, there are more often three of us than four: me, my sister, and my mother. My father works in Turkey, so he alternates between our home in France and Turkey for work. We are also very close to my grandmother, Joëlle (my mother's mother), as she lives in the house opposite ours, and we regularly spend time with her, for example at mealtimes. Days at home are fairly quiet. In the morning, my sister and I leave early to catch the bus to school, and my mother goes to work. In the evening, we get together to eat and chat. In my family, we also have a tradition of always eating at my grandmother's house on Wednesday afternoons after school, which is only in the morning on that day. After that, we each go off to our afternoon activities. For me, that means horseback riding. As for school, a typical day for me consists of arriving by bus in the morning, meeting up with my friends, and going to class together for the first four hours of the day. After that, we have a break of an hour and a half. As I am a day student, I do not eat in the cafeteria but go out to eat outside the school. After that, I go back and do the last four hours of the afternoon and then take the bus home. When I get home, I do about an hour of homework in the evening and two hours on the weekend. I am also my class representative. Outside of school, I have been riding horses since I was little, a passion that my mother passed on to me. I regularly go to the pony club to meet up with my friends, ride horses, or simply to help out, and sometimes I compete in horse shows. But I also enjoy sports in general; I have done dance and track and field. I also really enjoy anything artistic. I am very creative and love to create, draw, and paint. My friends say that I am a serious, hard-working, compassionate, and caring person who is always there for them, listens to them, and is devoted to them. I chose to go on a year-long exchange because I thought it was the best way to improve my English. Living with a family will hopefully allow me to practice the language more regularly, understand the culture, and above all, gain independence. Going to school every day will also give me the opportunity to integrate better, make friends, and have an authentic experience. I chose the United States because I wanted to discover this country, as I had never been there before, and I had also seen videos of exchange students who had gone to the United States, which motivated me to go there too. What I think I can bring to my host family, my school, and my host community is a little bit of French culture, such as French cuisine and music. As I am a cheerful person, I hope to bring some of my good humor with me. If there are young children in the host family, I could be like a big sister to them and spend time with them, as I really like children. Thank you in advance for your hospitality. Pelin