Dear family,

Thank you so much for reading my letter and giving me the opportunity to become part of you family

Hi, my name is Carla and I am 16 years old. I consider myself a very responsible and organized person, as well as a hard worker. I think I am an empathetic girl who respects and cares about the people I love. I also believe that I am a sporty person as I do sports regularly and I like to be active daily. I have always wanted to participate in one of these programs to live this experience. For me it is a dream to be able to live this opportunity. I have always wanted to have the experience of living with an American family and going to a high school. So I am really grateful that my parents were able to give me this opportunity, as well as the program and the host families that accept a student from abroad. I hope to learn a lot of English from this programme. I would also like to learn about a new culture and a way of life, as it is very different from the Spanish one. I have always had an interest in visiting the United States and I would not mind continuing my studies there.

My city is a small one and it is located in the north of Spain. It stands out for having three universities, two of them with prestige. It is well known for its international festivals and its variety and rich gastronomy. The region where it is located has very varied landscapes from deserts to large forests. It is also rich in history. Spain is located in the south of Europe, bathed by the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Ocean. And it has a very rich history dating back to 2000 years AD.

My family consists of my parents, my older sister and me. My father is the Commercial Director and partner in a company dedicated to the manufacture of machinery for quarries and mining. He likes to cook and when we meet friends he loves to enjoy a good meal with them. My mother is an administrator in a company. She likes to play sports and meet friends. She likes also fashion and jewelry. Finally, my sister is 19 years old. She is in her second year of psychology and loves what she is studying. My sister likes to do sports and going to the gym. In particular, she loves horse riding as much as I do. It is an activity that brings us closer together. My sister and I have always had a very good relationship even though we are very different both physically and personally. The family in general we are very close and have a lot of trust between all of us. We like to watch TV together especially when we enjoy a good dinner while watching a movie. We also sometimes go for walks together. I am currently in my penultimate year of school in technological modality. I do not really have a favourite subject but I can say that maths is one of my favourites. My school does not look very big from the outside but it has all the courses from the age of two onwards. I am not sure what I am going to study at university but I have aerospace engineering in mind as I would like to work on a space station researching space. Although I have a special interest in law.

In my group of friends from school we usually meet every weekend and we usually stay in a square near the school and play together in the street. However, with other friends we go to the city centre for a walk or shopping. And sometimes we go to the cinema. During the week, I go to school in the mornings and in the afternoons I usually go training and then study. On Saturday mornings I go horse riding and in the afternoons I study and meet my friends. Finally, Sundays If I can, I spend time in the stables and sometimes we have lunch with our family neighbours. And I usually have to study apart from some possible competitions that I might have. Travelling abroad in this way is something new for me. It is true that I have been to camps and slept away from home. When I was younger I was in a scout group where we met one day a week and had camps throughout the year.

I am a participative person in the family. I help my parents with the housework. I clean my room and make the bed, do the laundry, clear the table and wash the dishes. Finally, I sometimes iron, although less frequently. During the week my sister, my mother and I do the cooking, as my father is working, but for dinner we are the four of us. On weekends all of us eat together and my father always cooks, except when he is away from home as he travels frequently for work. Both my sister and I are fully capable of preparing our own meals as my parents sometimes come home later and we prepare our own meals. Also, once my parents went on holiday with some friends and i prepared my own food without any problem. On the one hand, I am looking forward to visiting the United States and living this experience as it is a dream for me. On the other hand, I am nervous because it is a big change, where you speak a different language and have a different culture. I think it’s going to be a bit hard at first to be separated from the people I love, but I am looking forward to creating unique moments and learning a lot of different things.

If you are finally my host family, I am eternally grateful to you for giving me this amazing opportunity and for your hospitality. I hope that I can teach you about Spanish culture and that you can learn about it as I will learn about you and American culture. I hope we will have an amazing few months and have a great time. Thank you very much.

See you soon.

Carla