Dear Host Family,

I am going to tell you a bit of myself.

My family is special in a good way. Let me tell you about them. First, my dad is really smart, not just school-smart, but the way he thinks is unique and amazing. I’m proud to be his daughter. I learn a lot from him. We have fun playing in the pool, soccer, and even giving each other massages. Then there’s my mom. She likes to be in control and gets stressed if things aren’t organized. She loves and supports us, even if she doesn’t fully understand something. We enjoy shopping, watching movies, and having deep conversations. I love it when she cheers me on during my soccer matches. Lastly, my brother is 17. He’s a really good person who wouldn’t harm anyone, even in tough situations. Some people took advantage of his kindness before, and it made me mad. We bond over video games, pool time, and card games. While I wish we could play soccer together, I know he doesn’t like it, so we do other things we both enjoy.

I’m Anna. I’m 14 now, but soon I’ll be 15 when I go to the US. I’m usually funny and make jokes a lot. But when I meet new people, I’m not so funny until I feel confident around them. I’m really good at understanding how others feel, and I like helping them. I do have a problem where I get angry easily, but I’m trying to get better at controlling it. Sometimes I’m too competitive, but I’m also working on that. I usually keep my feelings to myself because I don’t want to make others worry. I know that’s not the best thing to do, but it’s hard to explain.

I’ve loved soccer since I was around 3 or 4 years old. I used to play with boys on the playground, and most of my friends were boys. I even wondered if I was a boy because I liked what they liked. My mom told me that girls can love soccer too, and I don’t have to be a boy to enjoy it. I’ve loved soccer for a long time, and I especially enjoy being a goalkeeper. It feels amazing, and my favorite team is FC Barcelona. Besides soccer, I enjoy doing other things like traveling, listening to music, playing tennis and volleyball, writing, and hanging out with friends. I like to eat everything, vegetables, fruit, pasta, fish, legumes, meat, etc.. My favorite food is sushi, I love the variety of flavors that can be cocked and the soup it’s amazing too. I don’t like Brussels sprouts, peas and spicy food. I like Christmas, Halloween, I think I like all the holidays I love holidays, I love to decorate the house. Where I live there is a tradition in Christmas called caga tío it’s a a log of wood with a cute face and a Christmas hat, it consist to give him food during al the week before the Christmas Day and when the Christmas Day arrive the whole family get together and then you hit the caga tío with a wooden stick.

I hope to become more confident, independent, and mature. It’s important for me to gain the ability to solve problems on my own. I’m really excited to make new friends, get to know my host family and have new experiences. When I return from the US, I’ll be proud of myself if I’ve grown as a person. I don’t expect to change completely, but I want to learn as much as I can and especially learn from mistakes. My goal is to go to the US and live each moment fully, as if it were the last.

Thank you for reading my letter.

Best,

Anna