Dear Host Family,

My name is Icía and I’m currently 15 years old. My family is composed of my older brother, who is 2 years older than me, my mom and my dad. We have a lot of stuff in common, like cinema. We can’t have lunch or dinner together because of my and my brother’s studies and my parents work, but every Saturday we have dinner together while watching a movie. The time we’re together the most are holidays, like Christmas, when we travel to my grandparents’s house and spend the break there.

We have a really close relationship, have fun and love each other deeply. My mom is a really empathetic and considerate person, she’s always thinking about everyone and making sure we’re all feeling alright, as well as she is very funny. My dad has a type of humor like “dad jokes”, but he thinks about everyone too, he cares about the stuff I’m interested in and we have a lot of conversations. My brother is also really fun, in general we have a good time with each other.

People usually describe me as fun, outgoing, mature and kind. Even so, I’m a really sensitive person, and always worry if everybody is okay. I have a lot of friends, from school, art classes and theater. My friends tend to joke about me knowing everyone in my city. I have a lot of close friends too, especially my best friend, and we’ve known each other since we were three-years old. But most of my friends are from school. I always have a good time in school, being with classmates is great, but I also do my work and have good grades. I’ve been the delegate of my class for two years, since I have a good relationship with all my teachers and colleagues. I’m also in the Debate Club, ruled by my Spanish teacher, and in the Fashion Design Club, where they’re teaching us the basics of pattern making.

I always try to be very involved in the activities and decision making in my high school. My mom always says that since I was young, I’m like a roller coaster (emotionally speaking). I love to meet new people, as well as being surrounded by people, to discover new places, cultures, history. I consider myself really curious and respectful about everyone’s beliefs, likes, opinions and I love to know what’s happening around me, like watching the news, reading articles and basically trying to have an opinion about everything. My favorite thing in the world is art. Art in any form; films, theater, music, paints/draws, literature. When I’m older, I want to study fashion design, but my dream since I’m aware is being an actress (cinema actress, more specifically). I’ve been doing theater since I was 6 years old, as well as drawing. I also love reading, my room is always full of books both in English and Spanish, listening to music. When it comes to music, I have no preferences whatsoever. I tend to listen to pop, like Harry Styles or Taylor Swift, rock, like Nirvana or Queen, kpop, “reggaeton”. My playlists are the messiest thing ever.

I’ve been wanting to do this exchange since the 7th grade. At that time, thanks to YouTube I knew about going abroad to the United States, and my 12 year old self did a PowerPoint presentation to my parents to convince them. They thought that I would forget about it eventually, but here we are. My mom was the easiest to convince, since she lived a year away in Paris, so she understood my desire to discover new places and learn. My dad was not that sure about it, but he ended up agreeing. My main goal with this is to gain independence, and learn about life in the US. I’ve always been fascinated by its culture, places, foods, and the idea of being able to live there and be a part of it is exciting. And, obviously, I want to learn even more English, and be able to speak like a native person. I’ve already done a 3-week exchange to Kent, England, and it was one of the best decisions in my life. I want to learn and share my culture, traditions, food, places and enjoy your culture as much as you do, and show you the films, food, literature, sports, landscapes and everything about my country.

I want to thank my parents for letting me have this opportunity and reach my goals. I always try to be as grateful as possible for everything my parents give me, but this is the most important. I’ve been thinking about this exchange almost weekly since I decided I wanted to do it, and it’s unbelievable that it is already happening. I’m nothing but excited about this new journey in my life, so thank you to my future Host Family for letting me achieve one of my dreams.