Dear host family,

My name is Saranda and I am from Belgium.

If I were to describe myself, I would probably say I am a mature, reliable and organized person. I am also a kind and generous person who's always there for others. If I can help you, I will always do my best to help you. I am also motivated and always happy and excited to learn and discover new things! That's also why I can't wait to be in the USA as an international student.

I have one younger sister. I also have a dog named Milly. I have a really close relationship with my family. We always try to do fun things together like going to the movies or to a theme park or even go to a restaurant together. We really like spending time with eachother. We also always dine all together every evening and I eat lunch with my grandmother every wednesday. For us it is important to share atleast one moment of the day together to share all the things that happen to us. I also have a close relationship with my sister. We tell eachother everything and we're always there for eachother. I am really glad to have my family.

I am sure schools in Belgium are very different from schools in America, so I am going to tell you some things about my school. I start school at 9 am and I always go to school by bus. A normal schoolday ends at 4 pm, on wednesdays school ands at 12:30. I don't choose my classes, instead I choose a field of study (one that my school offers). I chose the one called "Modern Languages", which means I have a lot of French, Dutch, English, German and Spanish classes (=Modern Languages). In one day I always have 7 classes, except on wednesdays (then I have 4 classes). My friends and I like to sit on one of the benches outside to eat our food and have conversations with eachother. When school ends, I go to the busstop near the school to take the bus back home. I usually get home around 4:45 pm.

Once I get home, I go to my room to do my homework and to study for tests. Most of the time I make a few summeries during the weekend, this way I can study them one or two days before the test and I dont waste time making one the day before the test. I mostly study by reading the sentences out loud to myself or just by talking to myself because it is easier for me to understand the subject that way. I have to say this method has worked really well for me because I have always had good grades in school.

You must be wondering why I chose to do this school year in the first place. Well, I have always been interested in other countries and cultures, especially in the United States. I have never had the opportunity to visit and it has always been my dream to go to America. America looks so different and that's what's so interesting about it. Americans have different habits, different schools, ... everything there is different and that is what I want to discover. I can't wait to live in America and to live like an American. This school year will be so fulfilling and I will learn so many things! It will be a dream come true.

I really hope I can teach my host family some things too and be a help to them. I would love to teach my host family some french and dutch words, I think that could be very fun. I would also be very happy to cook some Belgian meals and to tell my host family about Belgium and the interesting things about it. At school I think I could show students that Belgians are good and nice people. I would also love to teach them some French and Dutch words too. They probably don't see Belgian students very often so I hope that I can share my culture with them and that they will like having a Belgian student at their school.

I thank you for your hospitabilty.

 

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