Brief an die Gastfamilie!

Austauschschüler Forum Vor dem Auslandsjahr
6

wäre nett, wenn ihr den brief kurz durchlest & mir ein feedback zu inhalt/ grammatik/ wortwahl gebt… :slight_smile: ich hab die befürchtung er is zu lang für das feld bei den ppp bewerbungsunterlagen… aber würd ganz gern mal eure meinung dazu hören :wink:

Dear Host Family,
My name is Jule and I am 16 years old and 5.4 feet tall (or rather small ;-)).
Unfortunately I do not know anything about your family yet, so I am going to tell you something about me.
I live together with my mother and her boyfriend and I do not have any brothers or sisters.
My parents got divorced three years ago but that is no problem for me because I visit my father every other weekend and I am glad to have some nice step-siblings now, however, we all get along very well. I attend 10th grade at the moment and I am doing well at school, besides, I am a reliable person who is always on time. I am adaptable to new situations and in my friends opinion(s) I am fair and a good listener. After I will have finished school in 3 years time I would like to study medicine
From an early age I always had pets; cats, a pig, and a big dog, and I learned to take care for them, so I would not have any problem, if there are pets in your family, too. My tasks at home are vacuuming, doing the dishes, shopping, ironing and taking the garbage out.
There are many reasons why I want to go to the USA for example to get to know new people, the beautiful scenery, acquire experiences by being away from home for one year and of course also the American Way of Life, I want to know how you live and experience that myself.
My hobbies are photography, music, cycling, meeting my friends and especially rowing which I hope I can continue in the USA. I practise five times a week and I like the team spirit very much.
I hope you got a good impression of me by reading this letter and I want to thank you very much for taking me as a member of your family.
I am really looking forward to spending time with you in the USA.
Yours sincerely,
Jule

7

[QUOTE=julilein;20921Dear Host Family,
My name is Jule and I am 16 years old and 5.4 feet tall (or rather small ;-)).

Not for American standards :slight_smile:

Unfortunately I do not know anything about your family yet, so I am going to tell you something about me.
I live together with my mother and her boyfriend and I do not have any brothers or sisters.
My parents got divorced three years ago but that is no problem for me because I visit my father every other weekend and I am glad to have some nice step-siblings now, however, we all get along very well. I attend 10th grade at the moment and I am doing well at school, besides, I am a reliable person who is always on time. I am adaptable to new situations and in my friends opinion(s) I am fair and a good listener.

Having finished school I would like to study medicine. Hast du die Schule jetzt schon beendet? After I will have finshed school in x years time…wäre besser.

From an early age I always had pets; cats, a pig, and a big dog, and I learned to take care for them, so I would not have any problem, if there are pets in your family, too. My tasks at home are vacuuming, doing the dishes, shopping, ironing and taking the garbage out.
There are many reasons why I want to go to the USA for example to get to know new people, the beautiful scenery, acquire experiences by being away from home for one year and of course also the American Way of Life, I want to know how you live and experience that myself.
My hobbies are photography, music, cycling, meeting my friends and especially rowing which I hope I can continue in the USA. I practise four times a week and I like the team spirit very much.
I hope you got a good impression of me by reading this letter and I want to thank you very much for accommodating me. Willst du nur untergebracht sein oder in der Familie aufgenommen werden? …for taking me as a member of your family…
I am really looking forward to spending time with you in the USA.
Yours sincerely,
Jule[/QUOTE]

Just some remarks…
RREbi

8

@ Jule

Also ich finde, das dein Brief gut ist. Ich weiß ja auch nicht ob du noch mehr geschrieben hast. :smiley:

Das einzige was nicht so gut ist (denke ich) ist das mit deiner Größe am Anfang :smiley: das kommt soein bisschen wie “Ja ich kann so gut Englisch und ich schreibe jetzt meine Größe dahin um Anzugeben” rüber :smiley: Das würde ich nicht schreiben, aber du musst es wissen. Mich, wenn ich Gastvater wäre, würde das stören.

Ich habe auch noch fragen:

1.Ich habe jetzt in Schriftgröße 12 eine Seite und ein bisschen geschrieben. Denkt ihr das ist zu wenig?

2.Ich habe oft die Familie selbst angesprochen. Findet ihr das gut?

3.Kann man auch Smileys benutzen (nicht zu viele), weil ich finde das kommt persönlicher rüber.

9

haha danke… aber jetzt is er schon weg… :slight_smile:
naja man sollte ja was über sich schreiben…
und nich das die aus deutschland jmd. ziemlich großes erwarten und dann komm (vielleicht :P) ich mit meinen 1,65m und die kriegen den schock :D…
das mit dem “or rather small” hab ich dann auch raus genommen, weil ichs nich so gut fand…
nur mit meter können Amerikaner glaub ich nich sooo viel anfangen…

so:
nö glaub nich… kommt drauf an, ob du nur eine sache geschrieben und um den heißen Brei gelabert hast (was ich eher nich denke) :smiley: oder ob du zu allem ein bischen geschrieben hast… also bei den bewerbungsunterlagen fürs PPP war nur eine Seite Platz (handgeschrieben, da ich keinen scanner habe), deswegen is mein brief so lang, wie er jetzt ist… obwohl… ich hab ihn noch ein bischen verändert…

die Familie ansprechen find ich ist ne gute Idee…

10

Finde ich auch. Wenn ich Gastvater wäre fänd ich einen Schüler der mich selber anspricht besser, als ein rein sachlicher Brief.:wink:
Weißt du schon wann du das Vorbereitungsseminar hast?

11

ich hab am 30.10. erstmal das Auswahlgespräch und da entscheidet PI dann, wen sie nehmen… :slight_smile:

12

Nachdem YFU mich nun angenommen hat, soll ich jetzt auch einen Brief an meine Gastfamilie verfassen. Da ich dieses Thema hier gerade gesehen habe, poste ich meinen Brief auch einfach mal hier und freue mich über jegliche Art von Rückmeldung :slight_smile:

Dear host family,

First of all I want to thank you for spending some time with reading my letter. In the following lines I want to introduce myself to you by talking about my family, hobbies and expectations for my stay abroad in your country.

My name is Lennart and I‘m currently 14 years old, but on the day of my departure I will be 15. I live together with my family in a village with about 14.000 inhabitants in North Rine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. I attend tenth grade of secondary school to get my university-entrance diploma. After school I want to study something having to do with Mathematics and Informatics, because I‘m very interested in these two topics and they are along with Physical Education my favorite school subjects.

The relationship between my parents and me is normally very good, they help me solving problems as much as they can. Of course we sometimes get in conflict, but that‘s usually about nothing and every has forgotten it the next day. Between my two brothers, who are currently seven and eleven years old, and me exists a relationship, as it exists between almost every brothers, sometimes they‘re just annoying, sometimes we deal fairly with each other. Up to now I spent every vacation with my family and on some weekends we jaunt to somewhere.
Apart from keeping my room clean I have no fixed responsibilities at home, but I often go shopping in the supermarket, vacuum-clean the kitchen or empty the dishwasher, if my mother wants me to do that. And of course if my parents sometimes aren‘t at home at night, I take care of my two younger brothers.

In my freetime my most important hobby is soccer. I‘ve been playing soccer for about seven years in a club now and still love it. We usually practice twice a week and additionally have a match on every weekend. So I would like to continue playing soccer in your country, but if it‘s not possible, it wouldn‘t be that bad, because I‘m open-minded about any other kind of sports, as I said before, Physical Education is one of my favorite school subjects, so I like many sports.
On a typical weekend I sleep in. After breakfast I usually have some free time and then I go to our sports field for my soccer match on Saturday. Having finished playing and taking a shower after that, it‘s often already afternoon. Then I meet some friends, sometimes we just talk, sometimes we got to cinema for example, or just relax at home. In Winter I also frequently go ice-skating in the evenings in an ice rink near our village. On Sunday I usually do my homework for the next week and relax at home or sometimes do a trip with my family.

The first time I heard much about an exchange to the U.S. was earlier this year, when my cousin came back from her year abroad in Michigan. She was so happy having done this and said, it is an experience for the whole life. I was immediately interested in being an exchange student, because I‘m like getting to know other cultures and traveling. I decided the U.S. as my exchange country, because I have ever wanted to go there once, and I‘m very looking forward to experience your way of life and especially your school system, I would like to know how they are different. I think, what I will like most at school is, that there are so many activities, that can be done after school.

Finally I want to thank you for your attendance to accommodate me and I‘m very very looking forward to get to know you soon.

Das ist mit Schriftgröße 12 jetzt etwas eine Seite lang… zu lang? Und sollte ich es dann drucken oder eher handschriftlich verfassen, was dann natürlich aber länger als eine Seite wird?

13

Hallo,
ich habe hier und da ein bisschen was geändert; ein paar Sätze eingefügt, damit da ein roter Faden erkennbar ist. Ich hoffe, das ist okay so? Ansonsten ist das ein super Brief, den du geschrieben hast! Sehr sympathisch - ich würde dich hosten! :slight_smile:
Ich finde handschriftlich geschriebene Gastfamilienbriefe vieeel besser, auch wenn es dann mehr ist. Aber nur, wenn du eine ordentliche Handschrift hast, die gut lesbar ist. Wenn man jedes Wort entziffern müsste, würde ich definitiv den Computergeschriebenen Text nehmen.
Liebe Grüße,
Wiebke

Dear host family,

First of all I would like to thank you for taking your time reading my letter. [SIZE=„1“][„Want“ ist für englische Muttersprachler ein „böses“ wort. Das wäre so als wenn du hier „Ich will ne Cola!“ :mad: zu jemandem sagen würdest. Nimm lieber immer die freundliche Version „would like“.:)][/SIZE] I will take this letter as a chance to introduce myself to you and share information on my family and hobbies as well as thoughts on my stay abroad with you.

My name is Lennart and I’m currently 14 years old, but on the day of my departure I will be 15. I am living with my family the city of … with about 14.000 inhabitants in North-Rhine-Westphalia - for me the most populous state of Germany. :slight_smile: [SIZE=„1“][Hier könntest du noch 2 Zeilen schreiben, was NRW so schönes bietet: große Städte, kleine idyllische Dörfer, Gute Infrastruktur, viele Nationen, da direkt angrenzend zu F, B, NL,… usw.][/SIZE]
I am attending the 10th grade of the German „Gymnasium“, which is the highest of three levels of German High School. Graduating from this school after 13 years I will [hopefully! ;)] receive my „university-entrance-diploma“. [SIZE=„1“][Das mit dem „university-entrance-diploma“ finde ich noch nicht perfekt, mir fällt aber auch keine bessere Formulierung ein. Vielleicht hat da dein Englischlehrer noch ne zündende Idee?][/SIZE] After my graduation from High school I’d like study something having to do with math and computer sience, because I’m very interested in these two topics and they are along with P.E. my favorite school subjects. [SIZE=„1“][Nur zur Info: Wenn du etwas mit einem Apostroph abkürzen möchtest, nimm bitte nicht den Akzent neben dem ß, sondern das richtige über der Raute. :p][/SIZE]

In my freetime my most important hobby is soccer. I’ve been playing soccer for about seven years in a club now and still love it. We usually practice twice a week and additionally have a match on every weekend. So I would like to continue playing soccer at your place, but if it’s not possible, it wouldn’t be that bad, because I’m open-minded about any other kind of sport, too. As I said, P.E. is one of my favorite school subjects, so I like many sports. :slight_smile:

On a typical weekend I appreciate to sleep in. After breakfast I usually have some free time and then I am going to our soccerfield for my match on Saturday. Having finished playing and taking a shower after that, it’s often already afternoon. Then I meet some friends, sometimes we just talk, sometimes we go to the movies, or just relax at home. In Winter I also frequently go ice-skating in the evenings in an ice rink close by. On Sunday I usually do my homework for the next week and relax at home or sometimes go on a trip with my family.

My relationship with my parents is in general really good, so they help me solving problems as much as they can. :slight_smile: Of course we sometimes get in conflict, but that’s usually about nothing important, so the argument is forgotten the next day. I have two brothers, too, who are currently seven and eleven years old, and our relationship is like almost every sibling one: sometimes they’re just annoying, sometimes we deal fairly with each other, but we always now we love each other. :slight_smile:

Apart from keeping my room clean I have no fixed responsibilities or chores at home, but I often go shopping in the supermarket, vacuum the kitchen or empty the dishwasher, if my mother asks me to do that. And of course if my parents are sometimes not at home at night, I take care of my two younger brothers.
Family is an important part of my life and that’s also how I heard about the opportunity of an exchange to the U.S. for the first time. It was earlier this year, when my cousin came back from her year abroad in Michigan. She was so happy having done this and said, it is an once-in-lifetime experience. I was immediately interested in being an exchange student, because I like travelling and getting to know different cultures. I chose the U.S.A. to be my exchange country, because I always wanted to go there, and I’m truly looking forward to experience your way of life and especially your school system. I would really like to know in how far they are different. I think, what I will like best in school is the various number of activities, that can be done after school. We do not have that in Germany, so I’m excited for the new. :slight_smile:

Thank you for considering to host me as your exchange student - I’m very, very looking forward to get to know you soon. :slight_smile:

Love,
Lennart

14

@Lennart: Mein Vorschlag zu “Abitur”: Honors Diploma.

@Wiebke: Den Gastfamilienbrief handschriftlich zu verfassen, halte ich für keine gute Idee. Mein Sohn und auch ich haben schon vielfach die Erfahrung gemacht, dass die Amerikaner - egal welchen Bildungsgrads - die Handschrift von uns Deutschen nicht lesen können, auch wenn man deutlich schreibt. Die Gefahr ist, dass die Gastfamilie mitten im Brief aufhört weiterzulesen.

Viele Grüße, Ute

15

Ich habe für Abitur “Graduation” genommen :wink:

Ich finde den Brief ganz gut aber das mit dem I would like würde ich nicht unbedingt verbessern. Es kommt immer an wenn man ein paar Fehler hat. :wink: Es ist sympatischer.
Ich habe übrigens auch mit Schriftgröße 12 eine Seite und ein bisschen geschrieben :D, dabei sollte man nur ca. 300 :slight_smile:

16

Hallo Ute,
ich finde einen handschriftlich verfassten Brief viel besser, weil er viel persönlicher rüberkommt. Dass ein Amerikaner Probleme mit meiner Handschrift hat, habe ich noch nie erlebt? Solange man deutlich schreibt und nicht unbedingt in der Vereinfachten Ausgangsschrift, ist das kein Problem. Die Vereinfachte Ausgangsschrift ist in der Tat für Manche Amerikaner schwer zu lesen, wenn sie perfekt geschrieben wird - aber ich kenne ehrlich gesagt keinen, der das tut.

Einem computergeschriebenen Brief würde ich nicht annähernd so viel Aufmerksamkeit zukommen lassen wie einem handgeschriebenen. Ich habe immer den Eindruck, dass sich jemand, der seinen Brief mit der Hand verfasst hat, viel mehr Mühe gegeben hat, als jemand, der alles mit dem Computer verfasst und kleine Fehler einfach schnell korrigiert. Handgeschrieben wirkt für mich also “echter”.

Achso und @ Jordan: Wenn du in den USA gewesen wärst, und dich mit der Gastfamiliensuche beschäftigt hättest, wüsstest du, dass kleinere Fehler zwar definitiv okay sind, “want” aber nicht dazu gehört. Das gehört zu den großen Fischen. Wenn eine amerikanische Gastfamilie nämlich die Wahl hat, zwischen einem Schüler, der die amerikanischen Gepflogenheiten offenbar schon kennt und dies z.B. mittels “would like” verdeutlicht, hat dieser erstmal bessere Chancen genommen zu werden als jemand, der “rude” ist, und “want” schreibt. Wer sich nämlich hier schon nicht anpasst, verspricht, ggf. Probleme im Jahr zu machen. Banal, ist aber so.
Und ehrlich, want schreiben leider ziemlich, ziemlich viele. Bei einer Bewerbung um einen Arbeitsplatz würde man das ja auch nicht machen; wissentlich schon einen größeren Fehler ins Anschreiben zu hauen. Und sich positiv vom Rest in der Bewerbung abzuheben, schadet nicht! :wink:

Liebe Grüße,
Wiebke

17

Hallo Wiebke,

eine amerikanische Bekannte von mir hat sich immer “beschwert”, wenn ich ihr einen handgeschriebenen Brief geschickt habe, egal wie viel Mühe ich mir mit meiner Schrift gegeben habe. Es gab immer wieder Worte, die sie nicht lesen konnte. Und mein Sohn meinte “Geht gar nicht! Der wird gleich beiseite gelegt” als ich ihn fragte, was er zu einem handgeschriebenen Brief an die Gasteltern meint. Auch britische Kollegen von mir haben sich immer wieder über die Handschrift (von uns Deutschen) kritisch geäußert, da jeder relativ individuell und unterschiedlich schreibe. Briten und Amis dagegen haben meist eine einheitlichere Schrift.

Also, wenn sich jetzt nicht mehr Leute zu diesem Thema melden (wäre mal interessant zu lesen, was andere dazu meinen!), muss nun Lennart sich eine eigene Meinung bilden.:wink:

Viele Grüße, Ute

18

Vielen Dank, vor allen an Wiebke für die ausführliche Verbesserung :slight_smile: ich habe mehrere deiner Vorschläge miteinfließen lassen und glaube, der Text ist mir jetzt sehr gut gelungen.
Ob ich ihn jetzt handschriftlich verfasse oder drucke weiß ich selber noch nicht, muss ich mir nochmal durch den Kopf gehen lassen :wink:

Ein paar minimale Anmerkungen:

Ich hatte irgendwie immer das ’ benutzt, komischerweise wurde beim Kopieren daraus ein `;)
Ich hatte extra darauf geachtet, „traveling” mit einem L zu schreiben, jetzt schreibst du es wieder mit zwei L. Ich dachte immer, im AE wirds nur mit einem geschrieben und da mein Brief ja nunmal in die USA geht?!

19

Hey,
ich habe mir um das Doppel-L bei travelling keine Gedanken gemacht, ich habe es wohl einfach immer so geschrieben? :confused: Du hast aber mit deinem einwand recht, das wird in den USA nur mit einem L geschrieben. Solltest du auch machen. :slight_smile:

Liebe Grüße,
Wiebke

20

Also mir wurde gesagt dass wenn man mal Fehler macht gar nicht so schlimm ist.
Ich denke mir dann immer wie das in unserer Situation wäre, wenn Amerikaner versuchen einen Brief in Englisch zu schreiben.
Ich kann das eigentlich auch aus eigener Erfahrung sagen hihi. Meine Freundin hat mir einen Brief geschickt und in Deutsch übersetzt. Hat die englischen Wörter wahrscheinlich nur in google Übersetzer eingegeben und es kamen nur falsche Sachen raus, es war seeeehr falsch, aber irgendwie hat man es doch verstanden. Ich fands sehr süß und attraktiv.
Also ich würde sagen fehler machen ist nicht so schlimm, es zeigt, dass wir doch auch nur Menschen sind :wink:

Gruß

Daria

21

Ja, das gelingt ihnen manchmal auch nicht ;-), aber in Deutsch noch weniger.

RREbi

22

hey ichbrauche dringend hilfe denn mein brief ist zu kurz könnt ihr mir bitte helfen ?

Dear Host Family ,
My name is Sophia and I am currently 14 years old, but on the day of my departure I will be 15. I will take this letter as a chance to introduce myself to you and share information on my family and hobbies.
At first I would like to say thank you for the opportunity to stay with you.
I live with my family in a town with the lake in a small house. I live on the border of Switzerland and Austria. With a pretty garden. I have one older sister Julia (18) and one younger brother Robin (9). We don’t a domestic animal because my parents don’t want to have someone. But my brother and I want to have a dog or a cat. Because I love animals.
The relationship between my parents and me is very good. When I have a problem I try to solve this problem by myself. But when I really need help I ask my family. My parents help me solving problems as much as they can.
I help in the household too. I help my mom cooking, clean dishes, go in the supermarket with my mum and of course tidy up my room.
I have many friends, boys as well as girls. I do a lot with my friends. Because they are very important for me. We also learn together for school. I played Volleyball together with my best friend. And I have danced Hip Hop with 5 of my friends too.
I love to do sport. In particular football , hip hop and volleyball. In the winter I like to skiing.
At weekend I do something with my friends or my family. On Sunday my family and I eat a big breakfast because the other days at the week we have no time to eat breakfast together.
In my free time I meet my friends or other things like to swim, go to the cinema, go shopping and other funny things. When I have nothing to do at home I chat with my friends, listen music, read magazines or a book, watch TV or I play something with my sibling.
I am attending the 9th of the German Gymnasium which is the highest of three levels of German High School. My favorite subjects at school are sports, English and politics. I don’t like math. When I have finish the school I want to go to the university and study. I don’t know what but I want to do something with humans and don’t sit all day in an office.
I apply for AFS because I am interested to learn a new culture, a new pace, new people and speak the whole day English. And to go to school in America is so exciting for me. In this year I hope to be more confident and improve my English. But the most important thing for me is the experience.
I am already glad to meet you and to be allowed to be with you.
I hope now you have got the first impression of me. I please to hear myself from you.
Yours sincerely, Sophia

23

Hallo an alle!

Habe gerade meinen Brief an die Gastfamilie geschrieben und bin mir noch etwas unsicher, ob das alles so gut ist!
Bitte um Tipps, Verbesserungsvorschläge, Korrektur etc.
Wäre echt lieb wenn ihr mir helfen könntet!
Vielen Dank! :smiley:
LG
Anne

Dear
Host Family,
Thank
you so much for being willing to participate in the exchange program
and accepting me to live with your family.
First
of all I would like to thank you for taking your time reading my
letter.

I will take this letter as a chance to introduce myself to you and
share information on my family and hobbies as well as thoughts on my
stay abroad with you.

My name is Anne and I’m currently 14 years old, but on the day of my
departure I will be 15.
I am living with my family in a village with about 3.000 inhabitants in
the South of Baden-Würtenberg, for me the most beautiful state of
Germany. You can come well by bus to Freiburg, that‘s a big city
where you can go shopping or visit the popular church: the Münster.
You have near the black Forest, where I like to do skiing in the winter
or you can hiking in the summer.
I am attending the 9 th grade of the German “Gymnasium”,
which is the highest of three levels of German High School. After my
graduation from High school I’d like study something having to do
with arts and technology, because I’m very interested in these two
topics and they are along with sports my favorite school subjects.
In my freetime my most important hobby is gymnastics.
I’ve been doing gymnastics for about nine years in a club now and still love it.
We usually practice twice a week and sometimes I have also a competition at the weekend.
So I would like to continue doing gymnastics at your place, but if it’s not possible, it wouldn’t be that bad,
because I’m open-minded about any other kind of sport, too. I
like many sports, because I‘m still playing Tennis and Badminton. I
like to bake and cook passionately and I play the violine for five
years.
On a typical weekend I appreciate to sleep in. After breakfast I
prepare the lunch for my family. After that I meet my friends,
sometimes we just talk, sometimes we go to the swimming pool, or just
relax at home or I have a competition of gymnastics.
On Sunday I usually do my homeworks for the next week and relax at home.
Sometimes I go on a trip with my family and bake for the afternoon a
cake.
My relationship with my parents is in general really good, so they help
me solving problems as much as they can.
Of course we sometimes get in conflict, but that’s usually about nothing
important, so the argument is forgotten the next day.
I have three sisters, who are currently eight, twelve and sixteen years
old, and our relationship is like almost every sibling one: sometimes
they’re just annoying, sometimes we deal fairly with each other, but
we always now we love each other.
Apart from keeping my room clean I have no fixed responsibilities or chores
at home, but I often go shopping in the supermarket with my mum, at
some days cooking, empty and filling the dishwasher or clean the
kitchen.
Family is very important for me, so I hope and wish, that I will also a part
of your family.
I heard about the opportunity of an exchange to the U.S. for the first
time from a friend of me. She told me so much exciting and good about
the exchange year what her brother has done. I was immediately
interested in being an exchange student, because I like travelling
and getting to know different cultures. I chose the USA to be my
exchange country, because I always wanted to go there and I’m truly
looking forward to experience your way of life and especially your
school system.
I think, what I will like best in school is the various number of
activities, that can be done after school. We do not have that in
Germany, so I’m excited for the new.
Thank you for considering to host me as your exchange student - I’m very,
very looking forward to get to know you soon.
Love,
Anne

24

Hallo an alle.

Ich wollte fragen ob sich jemand meinen Brief durchlesen und anschließen korrigieren bzw. verbessern könnte?

Vielen lieben Dank

Dear Host family,

First of all I would like to thank you for reading my letter and spending time on getting to know me better. I hope that the following lines of my letter will give you an impression about me, my family and why I would like to spend one year in the US.

My name is XXXX, I am 15 years old and I’ll turn 16 on January 2019.

I have decided to choose AFS because a relative of mine was one year in the US and he was very contented with the program. He recommended me AFS while I was searching for an agency.

The reason why I would like to spend a year in the US is quite simple for me to answer. Since I was a little girl it was my big „american“ dream to fly to the US and spend my time there. I would like to improve my English and learn to speak fluently.
I think that living in the US will be a unique experience for me and that it will have a big influence on my life and personality. My motivation for living in the US is also quite simple. I hope that I am going to have a nice time there and that my „american“ dream will become reality.

My friends describe me as a smart, loyal, ambitious, sportive and funny person but I would like to add that I am also an open-minded person and I like to try out and explore new things that I did not know before. In general I would say that I have a good relation with my family and friends.

I would like to live in a host family because I think that it will give me another perspective to the „real“ American life and that I will be more comfortable in a warm family than living alone. I imagine that the family life in the US is going to be different then in my family here in Germany.
But I also think that the „american“ family life is going to be exciting, unique and something special for me.

In my free time I like to do many different activities. I like reading books, blogs and watching movies or series on Netflix with my friends but I also like cooking and baking. I love to try out new recipes for example american recipes, which are by the way my favorite ones.

My hobbies are doing sports and playing the piano. As I have already said I am a sportive person, which is the reason why I am going two to three times a week to a gym near our village. When I have less time and the weather is good also like to go jogging in a forest one mile behind our house. But if I have some time I like to take my camera with me and take a few pictures. At school I am also playing hockey (indoor) and badminton in our school team. Besides my sportive hobbies I like to play the piano. I have private lessons for almost 7 years and if I am done with my main pieces I love to try out new piano pieces on my own. In the US I would like to continue with my hobbies like playing the piano or doing sports but I also like to try out new things and activities like archery or singing in a choir.

In the US I will attend the 10th grade of High-School and I think that I am going to have a different school life then in Germany. The school system is going to be completely different but I am very confident that I can find my way to get it under control. I think that I am going to have new subjects, teachers and class mades but I can imagine that it is going to be very exciting and something new for me. For my future I have to say that I have no fixed plans. But after my graduation from school I would like to study medicine at a good university and become a surgeon.

While I am in the US I am sure that there are going to be some challenges for me like my new environment, my new school or new people but I am very confident that from time to time as well as with your support I will manage it.

I very much look forward to seeing you soon and thank you very much for letting me live with your family.

Kind regards.

XXXX

25

Hallo, wäre super nett wenn mal jemand drüber lesen könnte und mir vielleicht ein par Tipps gibt :slight_smile:
Danke im Vorraus!!!

Dear host family,
my name is xxx and im 16 years old. I live in Germany in a small village with my two parents and my younger sister (13 years old). My older sister (22) and my big brother (20) already moved out to go to University a few years ago. I have a really good relationship with my family, especially with my siblings. We spend a lot of time togehter, on vacations, on the weekend or on family celebrations with the extendet family. Im a very social guy, so when I´m not spending time with my family, I use to visit friends to do something together. Usually we go swimming, playing football or do something else outside and when the weather isn´t nice we`re also enyoing some indoor games, Netflix or videogames.

When Im not busy with meeting friends I love to do sport in my freetime. I have football training twice a week and games or tournaments on weekend. Also I´m a lifeguard, because I want to help people in dangerous situations and I can work as a pool attendent at public pools during vacation and on weekends. To unlearn nothing and practice rescue techniques we have training every week and exams every year. I also was 6 years in an acrobatic gymnastic club, where I had training three to four times per week and many successfull tournament on the weekends and after I desist from this I was two years in an athletics club and also played tennis for one year at school. Shortly after I stopped with all this, I started playing football, where I am not that succesfull, but its much more fun playing with all my friends together as a team and not solo against them. That´s different in my second passion: swimming. I started to swimm in a club when I was still in kindergarden and did this until 8th grade. That was when I became a lifeguard. I also love to play tabletennis, handball, tennis and volleyball, klimbing, nordic and alpine skiing, snowboarding, canoing, hiking, biking, fishing and much more. I´m really looking forward to try new things in the United States like American Football or whatever. So if you have any special or different hobbies I will gladly want to try these.

For my career I have very big plans, because I want to study medicine and hopefully become a doctor. That´s why I take school very seriously at all and its always my first priority to finish my homeworks and learn for the exams and tests. My favourite subjects in school are PE, biology, informatics and natural sciences. I grew up in our big property in a rural region but near a big city. Because of four kids and a big extendet family, we always had a full house, what I liked, because Im, as already said, a very social guy. Also we always had two turtles and at least two rabbits and also a cat, wich has come to us five years ago. So I know how to take care of pets and would be happy if you have any kinds of pets too.
Because of our big house and a garden there are many things to do every day like cleaning the house, washing the dishes, cutting the lawn, splitting wood for the heating during winter and many more. It´s usual for me to help my parents with this work or doing it independently.
People around often say I am very creative, helpful, empathic and ambitous or describe me as a humourous, polite, sociable and confident person. Honestly, I think this describes me quite well and I would add that I am absolutly in no way narcissistic, in case of it sounds like that for you.
My family, except my dad, is religous even if we don´t go to church every sunday, but I would have no problem with this.
During my exchange I hope to gain a lot of new experiences, find new friends and get to know your culture, everyday life and spend time with you. I´m really looking forward to be a part of your family, tell you about my culture and everyday life and wearing cowboyheads every day. Just kidding :slight_smile:
Thank you very much for reading my letter and I`m really looking forward to see you soon.
Kind regards
xxx.