Dear American Family, 

I'm Ausrine, a 10th grade student from a small city in Lithuania. I come from a quite big family. I have two older brothers and an older sister. The bond my family and I share has always been extremely close. Even though all of my siblings are considered adults now, we still love travelling together!

My parents have always been supportive and understanding, providing us with guidance when needed and always giving out the best advice. My dad, who's a very hardworking, well-educated man has always been my biggest inspiration. He was the person who encouraged me to join an organisation that has now become one of the biggest parts of my everyday life! The organisation is called The Lithuanian Riflemen's union.

To recap, this organisation is a militarised, non-profit organisation, active in three main areas: military training, sport, and culture. I have always loved outdoor activities like hiking and camping, but being in this organisation made me love these activities when they're presented to you in an unusual way. Like camping without any tents or hiking when you know danger can seek up on you at any time. I love the thrill these activities give me and the friendships I've made while being a part of this union, but the thing I value most is knowing I could protect my country. I'm very proud of my country, culture and history. I would be delighted to introduce my host family to Lithuanian culture and especially the cuisine. Trust me, it's amazing!

Moving on to the next point, I'd like to cover - my hobbies. I have always loved art, since I was only 6 years old I was already enrolled in art school and later on even music school, which I'll always be grateful to my mother for, because it has really helped me shape my personality. More recently, I've developed a strong interest in sports. Last year, I did functional training, which I found both challenging and fun. This year, I decided to change things up and started going to the gym. This is the activity that helps me relax after school and completely clears my mind.

A very contrasting hobby to doing sports is my love for baking, I enjoy surprising my family and friends with handmade treats, my friends always say they're grateful for this hobby of mine!

Speaking of my friends, I would love to also tell you a little bit about them. I live in a small city with 36 thousand people, so, as you can imagine, there's not a lot of new activities you can find, but my friends and I love exploring the outdoors, forests and other places most people wouldn't think to visit! We also love organising events for our town's residents, especially kids.

As for my future, I've always thought my future career path will somehow be connected to the military. Even though this career is not off the limits, the thing that interests me the most is odontology. Specifically, my dream job would be an orthodontist!

I have always had an unconditional love for kids and a skill to create safe spaces for them to talk about their feelings, so I would also love to incorporate this skill into my everyday life somehow! As you can tell, I'm very talkative, outgoing and a complete extrovert. I love getting to know new people, edifying myself on different cultures and lifestyles is my passion! So my goal for this project would be exactly that!

I'm looking forward to this unique experience and all the friendships, memories, and lessons it will bring!

Thank you. 

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