Dear Hostfamily,
first of all I want to thank you for admitting me into your family and to give me the opportunity to live my American Dream. In the following letter i would like to describe myself, my family, the things I normally do, the placewhere i live and something like that. So that you have a first impression of me.
My name is Sophie Uniewski and I'm 15 years old. I attend the 10th grade at the Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Gymnasium in Ahlhorn. My school is in the same little village in which I'm living.
Ahlhorn has a population of about 6000 people. It is near Bremen in Northern Germany. The capital of Germany is 250mph away. My school is only 1 mph away from my home so that I can ride to school by bike in a few minutes everyday. Only 400 students attend this school. So it's a very personal school where everybody knows each other.
My family that means my parents and me because I have no siblings, are living in a house with a garden in Ahlhorn. Other members of my family like my grandparents, uncles, aunts as well as cousins live in Magdeburg, it's a bigger town and 190mph away from my village . So I always look forward to see my family but of this distance i'ts not possible for me to see them very often. Every summer I visit my family in Magdeburg for two weeks but I try to see them as often as I can because they are meaning a lot to me. My relationship to my parents is very good, they always want the best for me and if i had a problem, they would help me. I can count of them just like on my family in Magdeburg. Every year my parents and me take a vacation together, it is always fun, but this year we didn't because i had the possibility to spend my vacation with my best friend in Los Angeles. It was so great! The landscape and the nice people.
Our family is very funny and always ready to laugh but we can also talk to each other seriously, we are very sportive and active, every monday my mom is doing gymnastics and she is a trainer for children sports, I'm playing soccer in a team for 3 years, trampolining and I've played fistball (i'ts roughly the same as volleyball) and I attend a musical school in my free time. Weekends my family is sometimes riding the bike or going for a walk. I like it to go shopping at weekends or to doing sleepovers with my friends. Next to this activities i like going to the movies, going out, spending time on the internet, hanging out with friends to sing with them and make fotoshootings and other activities.
I would like to describe a normally school day.
My school starts at 7:30am. So i have to get up very early at 6:15am. On every single day our schedule is different. After lessons we can take part in a club. But my friend and me have a own club where we are leaders. We teach the children who are in 5th or 6th grade. It's very funny. At the moment we make a film and after that we want to make a sketch for christmas.
At first when I arrived at home at 3pm I eat something. Before I eat at home I always eat something small in school. Then I have to do my homeworks. But after doing my homeworks I do sports with my friends like soccer in a club or going to musical school where I sing, act and dance or I only meet friends hanging out at their house, talking to each other, laughing and things like that. Many of my hobbies as soccer are very late so that I arrived at home only then 8:30pm or 9:15pm. But of course in the evening i eat supper. Later I watch TV, spend time at the internet for example on facebook . After that I have to sleep.
It makes me curios how a normally school day is in America. The different subjects, schoolclubs, teachers as well as sports like football, baseball or other ones and the school spirit not forgetting homecoming. I've heard so much about all these things. You can learn a lot of about the life and highschool in America on TV or in highschool movies but what is it like in reality? It's very interesting for me to see the differences of a german teenager and their normally schoolday between an american teenager and their normally school day or to see what we have in common.
Since 2008 it's my biggest dream to do an exchange year. It's been a long time ago but now I'm old enough to live my dream and I can't wait to be a part of your family. My family and friends say that I'm very friendly, open-minded, humourous, caring perhaps a little bit clumsy but a lovable person.
I would describe me also friendly, tolerant, open-minded responsible and sometimes a bit untidy that means not that I've never tidy up my room it looks mostly okay but my mom doesn't always think so. I like children very much and for my future I'll be sure that I will have more than one child because I have no siblings and I wish I had them but I also think I still have a lot of time for my family planning.
I like it to do something with my family. Maybe I will be have one, two or three siblings in your family. It would be nice and a very special expierence for me. Maybe when I grow up I want to move to America. But at first I want to visit your family for one year. After that perhaps i will go to college in America.
I would like to describe my hobbies a bit. One of my hobbies is soccer. I play in a team for 3 years. I like my team. Most of my friends play also soccer. We support us and nobody is angry if somebody plays bad but in the past we had sometimes cat fights. We win but we also loose. It makes fun. We've already done a team travel and we are part of some soccer competitions. Our soccer games are mostly on fridays or saturdays. Every Thursday we practise for 2 hours. In winter we are going into a sports hall where we practise. Sport is very important for me and I would like to practise a typically American Sport when I'm there.
One of my other hobbies is to sing, act and dance in a musical school. I do this since septembre 2010. On every Tuesday when we practise for 2 hours we are a group of 15 girls at the moment but every week comes a newcomer. Every year this school studys a new musical, where everybody from the school can come to the castings and have the chance to get a role in the musical, but it's not so easy to get a role, because there are more than 200 students in this school. In december will be the premiere of the musical called (Annie and the world of the drawn). I have a little role so we have to practise very very often.
I also do another sport namely gymnastics. It's on mondays and I practise it with my friends together.
I also like it to listen to american music and watch american movies. There are the best. For example music from artists like David Guetta, Jason Derulo, Taio Cruiz, Katy Perry and other ones.
My favourite movies are at the moment The last song, Dear John, Grown ups and so on. But it could be change very often.
Now I want to explain why I want to do an exchange year.
You hear a lot of the American way of life in Germany and also learn something about it in school.
I've heard that the American people are very friendly and open-minded.
I would like to now more about the American culture and lifestyle and to learn about the differences between Germany and USA. For example the school and the food I can cook something german for you or tell you other typical things of Germany like how we celebrate christmas and so on. I've also heard that the church is very different in the USA although I'm not very religious but I would go to church with you if you do this regularly.
The highschool makes me also curios and I'm very interested in learning the language. I've already read and heard so much about an exchange year in the USA. Two students of our school have already done an exchange year. They were so enthusiastic. I'm so excited about meeting you in summer and to be a part of your family for one year and to attend a highschool meeting new peoples, getting new friends, particapating at your activities and I hope that we will have a great and exciting year.
Of course I'm, going to miss my family and friends but I'm looking forward to my exchange year and I want to thank you again for giving me the opportunity to spend a year in the US.
Yours
