Hmm…ich fang jez mal an, wie viele andere auch anfangen: Ich weiß, dass es schon viele von diesen Threads gibt, aber ich wusste einfach nicht, unter welchen ich das hier posten sollte 
Ich hab gerade meinen Brief an meine potentiellen Gasteltern geschrieben und weiß nicht so ganz, was ich jetzt davon halten soll. Die Vorgabe für die Länge war 2-4 ganze Seiten und das sind gerade mal 1 1/2 …
Ich wusste aber einfach nicht mehr, was ich noch schreiben sollte.
In der Hoffnung, das mir irgendeine Person schnell antwortet, vielen Dank schon mal 
Dear family!
I thought a lot of how to begin this letter. The first sentence should make the rest interesting and shouldn’t sound as all the others. You see, I know in which way I should start but it’s still not easy to find the right words. But I thank you that you read it at all!
My name is Jana and I’m 16 years old. I’m living in a small village close to a town which is very small, too. Behind our house is a field and 500 metres away the forest begins. The small town I talked about is called Blomberg and that’s also the town were I go to school.
My school is bigger than you maybe thought. All pupils in this area go to one of the four different schools on the campus and so at the Gymnasium (where I am) there are about 1000 pupils. I more or less like my school but there not many activities to do after school and not many subjects you can choose. For example, 3 years ago I had to choose a second foreign language after English and there were only two possibilities, French and Latin. I’m ambitious and want to learn as much as possible. As you can see in my school reports, I always was a good student. I never had to study much for it and so I see this exchange as an additional chance to learn more.
School is also very important for me because there are most of my friends. In class, I’m friend with mostly everyone. Of course there are a few kids who I don’t like very much but I really try to be friendly to them.
So my circle of friends is quite large but anyhow there are a few girls (exactly 9 J) who are very close to me. We often meet to do something together. Last week for example we met at my house and I made dinner before we read a book together.
Together with one of these girls, Hannah, I play handball. Handball is a large part of my life because I have training three times a week and often a match at the weekend. Often it’s very hard because our trainers often want to much from us. But even so I like it very much. And after all, we’re not bad. Last year we made fourth place in the German Championship in our age.
With Hannah, I often write on the internet or talk in English. We often just talk nonsense but it’s quite funny and it really helps to improve my English.
Next hobby of me is music. It’s a big part of my life and I’m listening to music most of the time. But don’t be afraid: I’m not a freak who’s terrorizing you with loud rock music all day long.
I like making music, too. I play the trumpet for 5 years now and I really like doing it. You can’t sing when you’re playing the trumpet, unfortunately, because I like singing as well. But be careful, I’m really bad in it and you should hope you’ll never hear me singing while taking a shower J.
I’m also interested in reading books. The shelf in my room is full of books and I like just sitting in the coach, having tea and read one of them.
Sounds as if I’m a couch potato, doesn’t it. Well, I’m kind of. I like having a day off with just doing nothing as much as doing some activities with my friends or my family. I have to admit that I’m often a bit lazy and chaotic but that’s one of the things I want to improve while being an exchange student.
I think the exchange year will prepare me for my future life and will really help me. It will give me experiences and it’s a chance I will never get again.
The main reason for wanting to be an exchange student is that I want to improve my English. But of course I’m also interested in the American way of life. All information you get about the USA in Germany comes from stupid teenage movies and I really want to get to know the real life. I hope to find new friends and get a really nice host family (hope it is you!) which can become my second real family.
My parents just separated and I live now alone with my mum in our house. My dad lives only a few kilometres away and and try to see him as much as possible. Of course it’s a quite hard time for me but I can stand it. I’m not a person who gets depressive because of something like that.
I have no siblings but I would like to have one while being (and of course they’ll stay my siblings) an exchange student. Of course I will also like you if you have no children. I’m not the spoiled only child who gets everything she wants. I try to be polite all the time and I’ll observe the rules (or I’ll try J) you gave to me.
Talking to or meeting somebody the first time I’m often a bit shy because I don’t know if he or she will like me. But once we know each other I’m open-minded and we can have fun together.
I really thank you for reading this letter and hope you forgive me all the faults in my letter. I hope you’re going to be MY host family and if so, thank you very much!
Lots of greetings,
Jana
