Dear future host family, my name is Anna, and I’m 15 Years old. I live in a village in the western part of Germany, with my dad and my older sister. At the weekends the girlfriend of my father is joining us. My dad is working as a lawyer in white collar criminal law and my sister is attending the Q2 which is equivalent to senior year in high school. My mother was a communication designer, making tv-commercials for well know companies such as Mercedes. But she suddenly died when I was seven. That was a very hard time for me, but family stood close together. My dad reduced working times and my loving grandparents took care of me and my sister. My aunt also helped in raising me and my sister. She went to Michigan when she was in my age and gave me the inspiration for this application.

I have 3 cousins my age, currently they live in the south of Germany but they used to live in the USA and England because my aunt is American. All three of my cousins grew up bilingual so they spoke a lot of English at family gatherings.

Currently I live on a sort of farm. We have 2 cats, 5 sheep 7 chickens. I’m responsible for our Chickens. My chores in the household consist of taking out the trash and cleaning the kitchen. I also help in outside projects like renovating our attic. Me and my family often spend time together especially in the summer we often went to a lake near our house, were its allowed to swim.

I used to live in a big city in the Rhine area. But after I turned 12, we moved to a village, even though I like it here, I still miss living in the city.

If I asked my friends to describe me in 3 adjectives, they would say that I’m honest, loyal and friendly. I enjoy tennis in our local tennis club and playing the trumpet in an orchestra. I also have a passion for reading, baking, drawing and listening to music. In my free time I love to hang out with my friends. Most of my friends live only a few minutes away from me so I do a lot with them our activities usually consist of going to each other’s houses and talking, baking, watching movies or playing board games but we also do outside activities like going swimming, shopping or just going on a walk. I have two circles of friends one in school and the other one in my village. I would say I’m more Introverted then extroverted.

My favourite song is piano man by Billy Joel, as for a favourite book, series or Movie I can’t say that a specific one is my favourite in general I like action and fantasy media.

On a typical school day, my classes start at half past seven, but I need to wake up at six o’clock to catch my bus. We usually have 6-8 lessons a day each lasting about 45 minutes. Once a week I go to a club called Tanzania club. In this club we organise things to rase funds for Tanzania. In a few years we will even go to an exchange to Tanzania to experience the situation there from a different Perspective. My favourite subjects are English, Art and Biology.

I want to do an exchange year because I want to step out of my comfort zone and experience a completely new everyday life. I also want to improve my fluency in English. I choose the specifically USA for a few reasons one of them being that my aunt advised me to go to the USA. She told me that her experience in the USA was very positive and that she learned a lot. Another reason is that I am fascinated by its diverse culture and traditions. Experiencing American holidays like Thanksgiving or learning about the daily life in in an American family would be an unforgettable experience. I also want to take part in the famous traditions of American high schools, like homecoming, prom, and sport events. I plan to attend a wide range of extracurricular activities like sports, theatre, and clubs. I would love to try something new and discover talents or interest.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to stay in the USA. I’m very excited to get to know you and I hope to see you soon.