Dear Host Family,

Hi I’m Sarah, 15 years old, I born in Germany. I would like to get to know you and your country. I would love to experience your culture and share my culture as well. Since I love to cook, I not only bring my favorite recipes and cook for you, I am also curious to see what you can show me about your life, customs and the culture of the USA. I also love to play basketball.

My hobbies are cooking and baking, I have even written my own cookbook, as a school project. It has the dishes from different countries. I like to do sports. I’ve been skiing since I was 4 years old. It’s a lot of fun. I’ve also tried snowboarding, but I prefer skiing. The most important and best thing however is, as I mentioned before: basketball. I love to play basketball a lot. I’ve been playing in a club since I was 10. In the beginning I played in a boys’ team, but now I play in a girls’ team. We all get along great with each other and also spend time together outside of training. I also coach a girls’ team as an assistant coach. When I’m not in training, I’m hanging out with friends. We go shopping together, do other activities or just talk a bit. My friends say I’m a very fun and open person. You can have fun with me, but you can also talk about serious topics. I’m a bit shy at first, but that actually subsides very quickly. I’m open to new things and I like to try things out. If I don’t like something or would do it differently, I am happy to contribute my opinion and discuss it.

Now about my family: We are a patchwork-family. I have 4 siblings. My oldest brother is 36 years old. He is married and has two children: (7) and (4). My sister is 32 years old and has a girl with her fiancé (2). My brother second brother is 25 years old, he is a student. Last but not least, my little brother is 13 years old. My dad is an architect and may mom is a layer.

I’ve been going to school since the first grade, which is about 20 minutes from where we live. Where I made many friends. My class has 34 pupils, which is actually a lot, but since I go to a Waldorf school, this is normal. My favorite days are holidays like Christmas or birthday, because then all my siblings are there and also my other members of the family like grandma, aunts, uncles, cousins. I like it when there’s something going on. I also love animals, especially dogs and cats. We once had a dog named Murphy and two of my brothers have cats.

Finally, I’ll tell you why I want to do a year abroad in the first place. I came up with the idea because a lot of people from my school had done this. When they came back, they told me how great it was. I started thinking about it and wanted to experience it too. I want to get to know the culture, customs and traditions of the USA, understand and speak the language better and get to know an American family is.

If I have convinced you with my letter, I would be happy to visit you next year.

Sincerely,

Sarah