Dear Host Family,

I am writing this letter so you can get to know me a little.

My name is Mate, I’m 15 years old, and I live in Hungary with my family in a small town in a house with a garden. I have a younger brother, who is 13. We also have a Saint Bernard dog, who is 7 years old.

We are a very sporty and active family. In winter we always try to go skiing, and during vacations we usually do active things instead of just relaxing. On weekends, we spend a lot of time with our circle of friends, which includes three other families who also live here, just like us. The kids are very good friends too, and we often go on vacations and skiing trips together.

My brother and I attend a Catholic high school in another town, so we take the bus there every day, which means we get up early. I really enjoy my school — I laugh a lot with my classmates and have many friends in my class. My favorite subjects are history and physical education. I’m also interested in law and politics, and in the summer I often listen to political podcasts. My goal is to get into a good university in Hungary, and for that I’ll need to take an entrance exam in English.

I like meeting different kinds of people, but I only have a few very close friends. I think I can along easily with younger and older kids people too. With them, I enjoy going to the movies, running, hanging out, or going to soccer matches. Since I was little, I have gone to Fradi (Hungarian team) matches with my dad.

Sports have always been important to me. I go to Muay Thai training three times a week, I run twice a week with one of my friends, and whenever I can, I play tennis or table tennis. I also love water sports, for example, when we went scuba diving in the Dominican Republic, it was one of my favorite experiences. I also enjoy swimming; I was a competitive swimmer for three years.

Sometimes I like relaxing alone, but I don’t really enjoy being bored, I’d rather plan something to do or help my parents. I clean my room once a week as I like to keep it clean, and I’m always happy to do other chores too. I have a very good relationship with my brother: we like joking around together, sometimes we argue, but we never really fight. I think he looks up to me, and I’ve always felt that I’m kind of an important person for him.

I also like watching series: my favorites are The Lincoln Lawyer and Stranger Things, but usually I prefer detective stories. I think I’m a realistic, determined, and ambitious person who is active and likes to laugh.

When it comes to food, I love fruits, and my favorite meal is medium rare beef steak — though we only have that on special celebrations. I’m a good student at school, and I’d like to keep that up while I will be in the US.

Through this exchange program, I would like to learn more about the American culture, share Hungarian culture, and improve my English as much as possible. I’m open to trying new things, meeting new people, and discovering new places.

Thank you in advance for welcoming me, I’m really looking forward to meeting you!

Hugs,

Mate