Dear future host family,
I’m looking forward to meeting you. I want to tell something about myself in this letter. My name is Elif and I am currently 16, but when my high school year starts, I will be 17. I live in the Netherlands. I live in a small village with my mom and stepfather, my sister and my little brother. I like it here because almost everyone knows each other.
My sister is 18 years old, and I have a real love-hate bond with her. I like to shop with my sister, and we go to the same gym, so we do sport a lot together. My little brother is 8 years old, so there is a lot of age difference between us, so we don’t often do things together. We both play soccer so occasionally we do that together or watch each other’s game. We also have 2 little dogs, they are Maltese and Shih Tzu mix. One of them is 4 years old and the other one is 11 years old. I have to walk them every other day. Usually, I don’t feel like it, but if the weather is nice, I like to walk the dogs. I like to celebrate Christmas with my family because it’s cozy and we often eat something nice at Christmas or we go out for dinner. We also buy nice presents for each other.
My favourite food is Italian lasagne Bolognese but I’m always in for fast food. I also like pasta and pancakes. My favourite healthy snack is fruit, I really like strawberries, watermelon and blueberries.
I think I’m a nice and sweet girl (most of the time). I am smart and really curious about new things that I am interested in. I stay motivated for school. I really can stress about school, because I want to do it right. I think that’s also one of my weaknesses. I am independent but I always can do it better. That’s one of my reasons for coming to the United States. Sometimes I can be very fragile and think a lot. But I can also be very direct and give my honest opinion. Some people around me think it’s nice to get my honest opinion but occasionally I am a little too direct.
I’m sporty. I’ve been playing soccer since I was eight or nine years old. I like to do it in a team. We have so much fun even though we lose. At first, I was playing soccer 3 days a week, but then I went to the gym, and it was really fun because my friends also went to the gym. I did sport every single day until I had school almost every day until four o’clock. Besides that, I also work at a drugstore. So now I go to the gym less.
I’m in high school, I am doing one level above average in the Netherlands. I learn easily. But I really don’t know which study I’m interested in. My preference is sport, I guess. But there are so many directions. In my high school year in the United States, I have plenty of time to think about that and maybe I discover something new.
My days are often the same. My school days are quite long, usually until 4, but my school doesn’t start until 9:25 a.m. After school I often do homework. If that’s done, I am going to work or I have soccer practice after dinner. When I don’t have to work or play soccer, I often go to the gym. Between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m., I come home, sometimes I watch TV and then I go to bed. On weekends, I usually have a soccer game. I also enjoy hanging out with my friends on a terrace or going shopping. We often go to different cities to shop. In the summer I like to go to the beach with my friends and get tanned. I also enjoy going to the cinema. I like comedies, drama and horror movies. One of my hobbies is baking. I like to make brownies or cookies. Sometimes if it is someone’s birthday, I like to make a big cake.
I like to go on winter sports. My stepfather taught me and my sister how to ski and took me on vacation. My mother was scared and couldn’t ski. My sister liked it, but just for a day. So, I went on doing winter sports with my stepfather. Now that my little brother can also ski, he also does winter sports with us. For a year now, I have been learning to snowboard, but it is really hard. I’ve had some lessons but if we go on vacation I prefer to go skiing because otherwise everyone has to wait for me. But I like snowboarding, so I want to learn it better.
I hope I will learn much from this experience. I think I will improve my English a lot. In addition, I will get to know your culture and the country better. I’m going to get to know myself better, I think, and become even more independent. But most importantly I am going to enjoy this adventure and have a lot of fun.
I hope we can take the adventure together! I’m looking forward to meet you.
