Dear Host Family,

First of all, I want to say a huge thank you for giving me the opportunity to live with you for half a year. Also, I am really thankful for becoming a part of your family and that I have the ability to experience the USA. I hope you are well. Because you do not know me, I want to give you a little insight into my life.

Currently I am going in the 10th grade, so I am a sophomore. I live in a house in a small town in the south of Germany. My family consists of my mom, my dad and my little sister who is three years younger than me. I appreciate how my family is supporting me with school, exchange and giving me the opportunity to live in a loving family. I love spending time with my family, especially my sister is a huge pleasure. Because of her I had an exciting childhood. We also learned how to act in conflict situations and how to solve problems.

I am a very open-minded person, so I love spending time with my friends. We often go outside and spend the whole day talking and joking around. Also, I like to combine school and friends, so when we are writing an exam, we often study together for it, to improve our academic effort. In school I like to think critically and question things to get a better knowledge. My favorite subjects are social studies and business studies. Besides school and spending time with my family and friends, I play soccer in a club. On Saturdays I take part in our school first aid club, where we learn how to save lives.

Next, I want to present me and what makes me to the person I am. First of all, I do really care about my inner self, so I like to keep my mind clear and focus on the important. My morning starts with writing down one thing I am thankful for and what I want to get done in the day and what to focus on. To reflect and end the day gratefully, I sometimes pray, and I write down what I am thankful for, what went well and what to improve the next day. That’s the matter I got a good structure and focus on my life.

Friends often tell me, I take care of them pretty well. That is what makes me a good friend, I help where I can. In general, I would say I am very cooperative and helpful.

To get included in the household I would like to help with the small things like cooking, doing some laundry and e.g. walking the dogs. I also would like to bring you closer to the German kitchen. I would love to cook German specialties and also talk about our traditions and what is different here. I would appreciate being a part of your family. Also, I would like to take part in family activities like daily ones and also events or what else is the program. I often do activities nearby our hometown with my family. When I was younger, we often went for a walk in the forest. Nowadays we often go to some food spots in our next big town or do courses together like joining a sushi course. The holidays we always spend together traveling, mostly to another state in Germany where the rest of my family lives. We have traveled a lot in Europe, so I have the luck that I already was in Spain, Italy, French, Netherlands, Ireland and Austria. I am happy to experience some of the warm climate in the USA (if possible) because in Germany it is often pretty cold and cloudy. I enjoy spending time with family and friends for me it is the compensation from school and stress and the ability to learn from the people I love.

I am a quite shy person at first but when someone gets to know me better, they also experience the more higher spirit version of me, where I laugh a lot and like to chatter. I am pretty open-minded to the most things. I like to learn new things, also I am interested in the different points of views people have, which helps me to understand society better. I am often a very thoughtful person, that always listens to her heart. Furthermore, I would describe myself as emotional and optimistic in the most points. My parents trust me a lot, so I am able to learn how to take care of myself and how it feels being responsible for myself, which makes me a reliable person.

Because of my exchange year, I hope to experience the American culture and to improve my English, also to gain international experience and becoming a clearer vision of what I want to do in the future. To experience America and its point of views has always been my dream, because all the Professions that I am interested in, include the national cooperation and the English language. For my exchange year, I hope I am able get more self-confident, to grow beyond myself and to get a new angle of view. I am really grateful to have the opportunity to become a part of the USA exchange.

I hope I was able to give you a little insight of my life and I am truly happy for having the opportunity to become a little part of your family and I am thankful for having the opportunity to experience the American life. I hope I collect a lot of experience and lessons learned from my half year abroad. I am already so excited and happy to finally get to know you.

Thank you, yours faithfully, Diana.

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