Dear Host Family,

I am writing this letter so you can get to know me a little. My name is Zalán. I am from Hungary. I live in a town near the capital, Budapest. There are about 20.000-30.000 people living here. With my friends I often hang around in the city. We go to our favorite places or do something fun. In summer and spring, I often go to play football with my friends or my brother to the local football field or climb mountains around Budaörs. The view is amazing at night.

We are five in our family: my mum, my dad, my brother and sister. My brother is 14 and my sister is 3 years old, so I am the oldest. I often babysit my sister and play with her a lot. With my brother I have got a close friendship, we talk a lot and often play sports together.

We live in family house with a big garden with my family. I have my own room with a great view and it is very comfortable. We leave with my brother upstairs, and we have our own kingdom, with TV, own bathroom. Our garden is just beautiful, it is a calm place and good to relax, or to study there. We have got a little vegetable garden as well, where we grow peach, onion, tomato, and some other green herbs. We have raspberries and strawberries as well. We also have trampoline in our garden which I like as well.

My school is in my hometown. I do not have to travel a lot to school. I usually go to school by bus or with one of my classmates. There are about 600 students attending this school. I love my school because of the sparkling social life and the open-minded atmosphere. I know a lot of people in every class and every grade, I am a sociable person. I think I am also reliable, honest and open. Getting to know new people is rather easy for me. With my classmates we like to go out together on the weekends or just hang around whenever we can. I am also in a good relationship with my teachers. I appreciate their support and acknowledge their willingness to grow and develop me in the school. I have good results at school, I study alone although my father helps me with German language that is my second foreign language. My school is among the top 10 high schools in Hungary.

Our family use to travel a lot. Every winter we go to ski to Austria or Italy and in the summertime we go to some warm places. I like skiing, it’s one of my favorite winter sports. My preferred destination during the summer is Lake Balaton. This lake is „the sea of Hungary”. I like to be there especially with my friends and family. With my father I like to sail or kayaking as a hobby. We have got 2 kayaks, and we go for about an hour-long kayak tour when we are at the lake. When I go there with my friends, we usually go to Siófok, the night life there is really exiting. When I am with my family, we stay in Révfülöp, that is where our weekend house can be found. I like to stay on the beach it is a good fun to meet old folks we grown up together and we play football with my brother or play some basketball in the water. In Révfülöp we barbecue a lot in the evenings, or we go to the restaurant. We often meet our neighbors and friends.

I like sports a lot, I am a licensed water polo player and I also go to the gym regularly. I have been swimming for nearly 10 years, and I like every watersport. On the weekends I usually go to a Water polo championship. As my team plays in 2 leagues, sometime there are 3 matches a weekend. As a hobby I ride a bike with my brother and father. With the family together we like to hike or go for a walk in the forest. I also like films and cinema especially. This is our bad weather program usually.

I would like to go to the USA because of its different culture. What I am hearing and seeing it looks really interesting. I also want to practice my English and try out a different school system. Also the big cities of the USA look amazing in the pictures, I am excited to visit these cities as well.

I hope you liked my letter, my personality and I will be accepted to this program, because I would like to know more about American culture.

Thank you for accepting me as a member of your family.

Kind regards,

Zalán