Dear future host family,

I´m Marten and I´m 15 years old. I live with my mother, father, brother and dog in a house in Germany. My father, Carsten, is an economic engineer who works for an airline company, he is 47 years old. My mother, Britta, works as a coach for kids, teens and parents in a coaching office here in my hometown. She is about to turn 50. My brother, Jonathan, is 12 years old and attends 5th grade. He likes soccer, swimming and break dance. Our dog is called Leo and is a golden doodle and very friendly.

My parents describe me as:

• friendly
• respectful
• responsible
• sporting
• supporting
• eager
• independent
• teamplayer

My strength is to debate with other people and also to be reliable in continuity. In addition I´m open-minded for new things. My weakness is that I want to sleep in long and I´m not really creative.

My hobbies are soccer, handball, basketball, table tennis, tennis and running and I´m interested in aviation, technology and world politics.

Last year in May I confirmed my belief and faith in god in a church ceremony. We had a family celebration afterwards which I enjoyed very much. For me it was a valuable time to be intensely in a church commune for one and a half year and getting to know and experience more about christian habits.

Reflecting on my favorite foods I would state burger and hot dog in a French roll and I also, I enjoy fruit salad and chicken. When we go for a holiday trip I really enjoy going to big cities as New York or Paris and I also enjoy staying close to the ocean. My family traditions on public holidays mean that we meet with the whole family, with my aunts and uncles for Christmas, Easter and birthdays.

Every other year we celebrate family reunions with our extended family for 3 days around Whitsun. I am very much into these traditions and I am looking forward to them a lot. I want to learn much about the English language and the traditions of the Americans e.g. thanksgiving and the American Dream.

I´m looking forward to getting new experiences with the American way of life to achieve more acceptance for intercultural understanding. This is going to be a lifetime experience which will contribute to the rest of my life. I am sure I will grow up a lot in this year. I prefer to stay in a region where I have a good infrastructure e.g. that there is the possibility of walking, bike riding or public transportation because I like to do this in an independent way. So I can relieve my host family from driving me around. I enjoy doing this here in my hometown.

I am looking forward to meeting you and would like to thank you for reading my letter.

Sincerely,

Marten