Hello Host Family,

My name is Maria Stehle, I am 16 years old, and I come from Germany. One of my biggest dreams is to spend a year at a High School in the USA.

What fascinates me most about the USA is not only the language and culture but also the feeling of endless possibilities. I don’t just want to observe—I want to take part in life. Whether it’s joining a school sports team or volunteering in the community, I want to be actively involved. I look forward to living with a host family, learning about new traditions, and sharing your daily life. If possible, I would love to live with a host sibling around my age.

I know this year will not always be easy. There will be days when I feel like a stranger, when I miss my family, or when I doubt myself. But that is exactly what motivates me—to grow, find solutions, and discover new strengths.

My Family

My family consists of my mother, father, and brother. My mother is a strong, social person. My father is smart and always finds solutions. My brother is funny and supportive. We are a close family that encourages each other in everyday life and important decisions.

For my parents, letting me go for a year is a mix of pride, excitement, and a little worry. They know this is a great opportunity for me to grow, but it will be different not having me at home every day. Still, they trust I will manage, and that we will stay in touch.

My Best Friend

My best friend, Anna, is someone I can always count on. She challenges me, gives honest advice, and encourages me when I doubt myself. We don’t have to pretend to be someone else—whether we talk for hours or sit in silence, it always feels right. It will be hard to be apart for a year, but I know our friendship is strong enough to handle the distance.

My Strengths

Three of my biggest strengths are optimism, determination, and creativity. I try to see the best in every situation. My positive attitude gives me the energy to keep going and motivate others. When I set a goal, I work hard to achieve it. Challenges don’t make me give up; they inspire me. My creativity helps me adapt quickly and connect with new people.

My School

I attend a local Christian school that values strong relationships. Every morning, teachers give a devotion, and we pray together.

Actually I am in the 10th grade counting all school years together. In Germany there are 4 years of elementary school and 6 to 8  years of secondary school.

I hope this year will be an adventure that shapes me for life. I want to return with new ideas, perspectives, and skills that will help me in my studies, career, and understanding of different cultures.

I am really looking forward to this experience and to meeting you soon!

Best wishes,

Maria

Dear future Host Family,

First of all I would like to thank you for making this dream of mine become possible. I’ve always wanted to experience the American way of life and maybe even move there when I’m older.

During my stay in the US I want to experience new things and learn about new things that aren’t common here in Germany, for example American football. Another thing I want to do is improve my English, and I hope to be near fluent by the end of the 10 months. I also know a lot about German culture and habits, so I can tell you a lot about it.

My name is Jannik. I’m currently 15 years old and will turn 16 in August. I’m looking forward to spending these 10 months of my life in an American high school and family. At the moment I’m going to school at an Igs, and I am in 10th grade, the Igs is a pretty big school for German standards with about 1,500 students. We also have pretty big classes, with up to 30 students per class. My favorite subjects are English and PE. I also play soccer at one of my local teams. In my free time when I’m not playing soccer, I like meeting with friends in the city to hang out, go shopping or eat. I also spend a lot of time with my parents or just chill on the couch with my cat and watch Netflix or listen to music. 

I live with my Mom Doreen (52) and my Dad Thomas (59) in a middle-sized City in Lower Saxony, where we’ve been living for about 4 years now. My parents both work for the Federal Employment Agency, my Dad has been working there for 42 years and my Mom for 32 years. My mom works as a Team leader for the division of homeless people while my Dad is A administrative assistant, and he also volunteers at a food bank in the next city over.  I have two half Brothers from my dads side, but they don’t live with us since they’re already older. 

Another thing about me is that I love animals especially dogs, cats, and hamsters, I’ve lived with animals my whole life and would describe myself as an animal lover. 

I’m very excited to spend these 10 months of my life in your family and am very much looking forward to meeting you 

Kind regards 

Jannik

Dear future host family,  

I am writing to you today to introduce myself and would like to thank you directly for this great opportunity to experience a whole new phase of my life and gain many great impressions in the USA.  

My name is Lucas, I am 16 years old and live with my family in Germany. My family consists of my parents and my older brother, who is 21 years old and currently lives and studies in another city.  

As my parents are separated, I always live with my mother for one week and my father for the other. This works well, and we all get on well despite the separation and often do things as a family or go on vacation.  

When we go on vacation, I prefer the beach or cities where you can see something historical.  For example, I was in New York last year in October and visited several interesting sights. Of course, I also like going on vacation with friends, so this year I went to Spain with two friends.  

My family also includes a small cat, which I love very much. I like animals in general, except for spiders, which I don't like at all or am a bit scared of.  

In my free time, I like to go to the gym and try to eat reasonably healthy. However, my weakness here is potato chips and pizza, which I typically find hard to resist. But I'm working on it.  

I also like to go out with my friends, either to chill out or to play soccer, or in summer we like to go swimming. When I'm at home, I also like to play games on the computer, usually online with my friends. Here we play Fifa, for example.  

Through a friend who is currently in Chicago in the USA, I became aware of the possibility of a stay abroad and looked into it. As I have been interested in the culture and life in the USA for a long time, I would like to discover the way of life of the people, as well as the different type of school and much more for myself. I am a very open-minded and curious person and see my stay abroad as an opportunity for me to grow personally and gain lots of great new impressions. And what better way to do that than with a nice local family.  

I am therefore looking forward to getting to know you as a host family and experiencing lots of new impressions.  

I hope you got a little impression of me. I look forward to getting to know you and wish you a good time until then.  

Best regards 

Lucas

Dear host family,

my name’s Ludovica and I am 16 years old. 

I am an only child, even though I always wished for a little sister or a little brother. I live with my mother and my father who are respectively a psychologist and a supermarket inspector.

Doing a year as an exchange student has always been one of my dreams, at first I thought that it would have been easy to leave everything behind for one year but now that I'm writing this letter and realizing my dream is going to become reality, it's not so easy anymore. 

I want to do this because I really want to better understand the culture of a country that's on the other side of the world, and which fascinates me. Who knows, maybe in the future I will be able to live there!

I'm a quiet and reserved person so, at first I might not seem interested in socializing, but in reality I like having people around me and I hope that in this journey I'll find some generous people willing to help me understand their culture and make me part of their country. 

Here in Italy I attend a "scientific" high school and in my country that means that me and the other students that chose this type of studies have a balance between scientific and classical subjects. I chose this school because I always felt a drawing to Science, even if right now that isn't my favorite subject.

As for my hobbies, I love to read, especially fantasy books that can take my mind to different worlds, where the characters live in a different reality. What I really like about reading is to empathize with the characters and try to understand what they're really feeling in some situations that can be much different from what I know. Apart from reading I like to write, thanks to my Italian teacher I discovered that, when I feel inspired, I really enjoy giving my mind some free time to express all the ideas that I have.

I liked drawing too but last year I had to stop because of the many homework assignments that our teachers gave us. 

I have always practiced at least one sport a year to keep fit and to relax after school.

My favorite sport between the ones that I’ve practiced is ice-skating, but, unfortunately, I had to stop due to the closing of the ice rink. Now I began doing kick boxing with one of my closest friends and, although it's not something usual for a girl to take up a fighting sport like kickboxing, I found out that it helps me relieve anxiety and stress, so that when the next day I go back to school I can be totally relaxed and with more concentration. 

I hope you find this letter interesting, and that I will live up to your expectations and build with you a bond that will remain part of me for the rest of my life. 

Thank you for giving me this possibility,

Ludovica.

Hello!

My name is Patricio, and I’m from Madrid, Spain. I’d like to tell you a little bit about myself and my family. In my family, there are five of us. My father, also named Patricio, is a padel player, and my mother, Beatriz, works as a real estate agent. I have two little sisters, Gabriela and Mencía, who are always together. They are very active and keep the atmosphere lively at home.

At school, I have many friends, and I have a great time with them. We enjoy spending time together, whether in class or during breaks, we’re always up to something fun. I get along really well with my classmates, and I think that’s one of the best parts of school—sharing moments and experiences with people who have similar interests.

One of the things I’m most excited about is the possibility of experiencing American culture. I’ve always been curious about how people live in the United States, what they do for fun, and what life is like there in general. I’d love to learn more about it, and I think it would be an amazing opportunity to explore new perspectives.

As for my hobbies, I’m really passionate about sports. I’m an active person, and I love staying fit. Football is my biggest passion. I play for my school team and also with the Madrid Football Federation. I spend a lot of time practicing and training, and I really enjoy the challenge of improving my skills. Football is not just a sport to me; it’s a way of life. It teaches me discipline, teamwork, and how to push myself further.

Besides football, I also enjoy practicing other sports. Tennis, boxing, and ping-pong are some of my other favorite activities. I practice these sports with my friends, and we always have a great time. Sports have always been a big part of my life, and I feel fortunate to enjoy them in so many different ways.

When it comes to entertainment, I’m a big fan of comedy and action movies. There’s something about those genres that always keeps me on the edge of my seat while making me laugh at the same time. Whether it’s a fast-paced action movie or a funny comedy, I enjoy watching them whenever I can.

As for food, my favorites are pizza and hamburgers. There’s nothing better than a delicious pizza or a juicy hamburger after a long day of training. And of course, I can’t forget about sweets. I absolutely love candy—it’s one of my biggest weaknesses!

See you soon,

Patricio