Dear Host Family,

My name is India, I’m 17 years old and I’m from Italy. We live in Livorno, on the coast of Tuscany, a medium city and the most beautiful thing in my city is the sea. For me the sea is medicine because when I have any sort of problem or I’m nostalgic I go to see it. It’s also a source of inspiration where I unleash my creativity. I hope to be lucky enough to be in a seaside town. I don’t have a brother or sister but I grew up with my cousins since we’re a very close family and for us family is very important. I live very close to my grandparents, so I considering myself very lucky. I have a dog named Nina who is very lively and I’m very attached to her. My parents are a very close couple, my mum is a freelancer and my dad is an international visual artist. I love my family very much and they’d do anything for me. A very important thing in my house are meals, in fact we always try to eat together because it is a time when we can talk about our day, and it helps a lot to keep the family together. My favorite plate is pasta, and I like cooking it.

I love going for walks by the sea with my dog and with my mother. We have a lot of fun and joke. The relationship I have with my mother is special, it’s as if she were my best friend and I tell her everything. A negative aspect of my parents is that many times we argue about useless things, even just because we don’t understand each other, but I think this is normal during adolescence. I would really like to have a sister, it’s a dream I’ve had since I was a child. In fact, I’m always in the company of my friends. Especially my best friend, Matilde, she is like a sister to me, since we do everything together and we tell each other each thing.

I have different hobbies, which are sports, arts, and music. Sport is the biggest hobby I have. I’ve been swimming since I was seven years old, and my favorite style is breaststroke. During COVID my pool was closed, so I did athletics, but for the last two years, I’ve been doing synchronized swimming. I really enjoy team sports because I think they are inclusive and a way to make friends. In winter I go on a skiing holiday with my family. In fact I started skiing when I was four and haven’t stopped since. I as well tried snowboarding but skiing is my passion. However, it would also be lovely to learn a typical American sport. A huge dream of mine is to learn to surf and I like also cheerleading.

I grew up in a world full of art and artists, furthermore attending a high school with an artistic address, I like to draw and study art history which is my favorite subject. Music is another passion of mine, even if in recent years I couldn’t have had enough time to practice. I played the guitar from nine to thirteen years old. I attended middle school with a musical specialization in playing the cello, flute, and keyboard. Further, I really love going to concerts because I think they enrich each of us. In fact my parents took me to many concerts since I was little and it is truly a unique emotion. My favorite singer is Calcutta and Gazzelle, I like also old Italian music like Vasco Rossi or Lucio Battisti. Another groups that I love are Radiohead, Oasis and Coldplay. I listen to music very often during the day, as a matter of fact it has become part of my routine.

My day in winter begins with waking up to go to school where I go by scooter and depending on the day I almost always come home at lunchtime. After lunch I rest watching TV or drawing. Three times a week I do synchronized swimming training for two hours and the other two days I go to the gym, because I love playing sports. Indeed when I do it I don’t think about anything and I let off steam. On Saturdays after school I study and then go out with my friends or I go to visit a nearby city.

I would like to achieve this experience to improve my level of English, live to experience American culture, and meet many new people. As for myself as a person, I am sunny, polite, and curious to know and learn new things. Initially, I can seem a bit shy because as much as I love discovering and learning new things, at the same time I am scared too. A genuine fear that is created by many emotions together, but as soon as I open up and feel at ease I become extroverted.