Dear Family,

Hello, I’m a future exchange student called Malen, and I’m so thankful to have the opportunity to live for a year in America.

I’ll describe myself as a kind person who always tries to help other people. I work hard to get what I want, and I constantly do my best. If I have to highlight something, I’ll say that I’m a good person and I genuinely try to help other people. Besides, I continually try to be more productive; I try to cook something, to read some books, to learn new things… I’ll say that I’m a restless mind and that I love to learn new things, and I try to improve myself all the time.

In my house we are 4: my parents, my brother and I; they are one of the fundamental pillars in my life. I think that we have a lovely relationship as a family; we have excellent communication. I tell them everything that happens to me, the problems, my goals, things that make me happy… I don’t have so many rules in my house; we base everything on communication and confidence. In our house, it works pretty well. Likewise, I have a little brother, we have a great relationship, and he is one of the people I care about most. In addition, there are my grandparents; on the one hand, there are grandparents on my mother’s side. On the other hand, there are grandparents on my father’s side. I had the opportunity to meet them all, and I’m very grateful for that. They saw me grow up, and they took care of me when my parents worked. Furthermore, I have a strong relationship with my aunt on my father’s side. We are so close, and she is one of the best people I know. Finally, my aunt on my mother’s side is also a special person to me; she is my referent in art and fashion; she influences me a lot. And her daughter is my single cousin; and she is my favorite kid in the world. She always shows me another point of view about the world.

On top of that, I have different hobbies. I think that practicing sports is very important. I practice athletics. Not only that, but I also love listening to music and spending time with my family and friends. In the same way, I also spend my time reading and cooking desserts. Furthermore, I like shopping and traveling with my family. I always go shopping with my mother; I love spending time with her. We also do trips to the mountains, skiing, hiking…

Occasionally, I think in my future, what will I do? With who? One of my goals is to go to college; I want to study a career. I don't have very clear what I'm going to study. I want to be an architect, but it would also be interesting to study engineering. Furthermore, I will always be interested in fashion. I think it would be very interesting to study something related to that world. Another of my goals is to travel and to know a lot of countries and a lot of cultures. And in a couple of years I don't see myself living in the town that actually I live; I see myself in another city or in another country.

During my stay abroad, I want to improve my English, which is one of my priorities. I want to improve my accent, and I want to learn words and phrases that local people use. Also, I want to learn more about American culture, and I want to teach my host family and friends about Spain, the Basque Country, and our culture. Besides, I think that is a year to become more independent, because it is a year when you have to start your life from scratch. But of course, I hope to become close to my host family, and I hope to make new friends during the exchange year.

Finally, this is what I can tell you about myself. I hope you find this letter useful and interesting, and I hope I can meet you soon. I hope we are going to have an amazing year together.

Regards,

Malen

Interested in hosting—whether 6-8 weeks or the entire school year?