Dear Host Family,

My name is Mercedes, and I am a fifteen-year-old girl living in Madrid, Spain.

First of all, I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to study in the USA. Last summer, I spent three weeks in California, and I loved it! I really like the American way of life, so I am very excited to be an exchange student next year, to make lots of plans and new friends.

I am a funny and responsible girl. I love traveling and meeting new people, so I’m sure I’m going to enjoy this experience a lot. Besides, I hope I will improve my English.

I live with my family in a village. I have one sister and one brother. My sister is twenty-one years old. She is currently abroad, studying her fourth year of university in Krakow, Poland. She studies Economics and also spent a year in the USA, where she lived with a wonderful family in Kansas. She is still in touch with them and really enjoyed the experience, so she’s very excited for me. I also have a brother in his last year of high school and is interested in Economics too, so he will probably start studying it next year. Although we live in the capital of Spain, we are originally from a beautiful town in the north of Spain with green countryside and lovely beaches.

Our extended family lives there, so we visit often. I like spending time with my family, and we usually travel together during the holidays. We’ve been to France and Portugal, and we love going to the beaches in Spain to surf and sail. We also enjoy exploring new places. In January, I will probably go to Krakow with my mother to visit my sister. I am so excited because Poland is a very interesting country with lots of history. We are planning to visit some places and castles while we are there.

I have many hobbies. I love going out with my friends—they are fantastic, funny, and kind people. We also play sports together. Over the last few years, I have played volleyball, football, and water polo, and I’ve also surfed and sailed with my brother and cousins. I love sports, so I always try my best and enjoy trying new ones. I also enjoy painting, listening to music, and going to the cinema, but what I love the most is spending time with my friends. Most of them are from my school, so we’ve been friends for a long time.

We are a big family! My father has six siblings, and my mother has three. I also have two grandmothers and many cousins. I love spending time with all of them. I have a cousin my age named Jimena, and she is one of my best friends. I love spending holidays with her. She lives in Santander, so I always look forward to seeing her.

Although I really want to go to the USA, I am also a little nervous. At the same time, I feel so lucky for this challenge and excited about the experience. I know I’m going to learn a lot—how to live with new people from a different culture, how to share impressions, feelings, and ideas—and I believe this will help me grow as a person, opening my mind and giving me new perspectives on life.

This is my present, and when I think about my future, I have some goals I would like to achieve: I want to be a good person and to be useful to society. I’d like to work with children. Maybe I will study law like my mother, but it’s still too early to decide. I hope to become a responsible person with common sense, someone who cares about the world and stays positive and happy.

Thank you very much for helping me with this challenge, and I hope I’ve been able to describe myself and capture your interest.