Dear American host family;

My name is Rubén and I am a 15 years old boy who lives in a large city in Spain with my mother, my father and my 17 years old sister. I live near my paternal grandparents and that’s why I have the opportunity of visiting them every weekend and eating with them on Sundays. The rest of my family lives further away in cities like Barcelona, Brussels (Belgium) or Pamplona, you may know this last one because of the well-known “Sanfermines” festivities.

Although mie is a very big city, my daily life is spent in the neighborhood where I live, where my High School is and where most of my friends live. From Monday to Friday my daily routine starts at 8:00 am when I wake up to go to High School as I start classes at 8:45 am (I am lucky to live very near to the High School) it finishes at 17:00 or 15:00 depends on the day of the week. Although I could go home to eat, I eat with my friends at the school canteen. We do many projects and activities in the different subjects and in P.E classes we do a different sport every trimester, like volleyball or badminton and I have played on the high school basketball team for several years. Before I also did judo and swimming, but since the studies take up more of my time I only practice basketball and soccer with friends whenever I can.

The last two years I have also gone to ski for a week in winter, I love the experience and I will try to repeat this year. Among my favorite subjects there are Math and Technical drawing, so I think that when I go to University I will choose any career related to computing and programming. This year, for example, I´m going to do a project in class about the advantages of the artificial intelligence in medicine. When I come back from High School I always have some homework, exams or any project to do so I start with it as soon as I arrive so I finish it as soon as possible and have enough time to talk with my family or friends or practice some sport. On the weekends I try to divide the time to be with my family as well as with my friends.

During my free-time I usually meet friends and go to cinema, the bowling alley, play paddle tennis or we just play video games. In the summer I love going to the beach, paddle surfing or kayaking and go on excursions with my family. On vacations I usually go to Galicia where my grandparents spend the summer and it has a really good climate as it is not as hot in summer as in Madrid. I consider that I’m a very organized boy and even though I am a little bit shy when I gain confidence people always tell me that I´m very funny. Also, the people around me say that I’m a very kind person and that I am always there to help them.

I have always wanted to do a course in the USA (my sister spent 10 months in USA last year and she always tells me that it was incredible), so I will travel to your country with much desire and enthusiasm of learning about your culture, enjoying my stay and that the 10 months with you will be an unforgettable experience.

I hope to see you soon.

Rubén