Dear host family,
First of all I want to thank you for giving me the chance of getting to know the culture and people of another county.
In this letter I am going to tell you something about my life, my personality and my hobbies.
Most of my relatives and friends feel that I am an open and merry person who doesn´t hesitate to approach others. I am glad when others take notice of me.
At first sight I might appear a little bit shy. But I tend to be cautious and like to observe situations and persons before I get into closer contact.
It is not easy to describe my relationship between me and my family as I am living with my mum, dad and sister ever since I was born.
I know that I feel very close to the members of my family and I am glad, that we really spend time together and don´t rush from one date to another leaving almost no time to communicate.
Unlike my sister, I like to leave home for short visits, even if I have to do it by myself. Quite often I take a train and visit a friend in another town. These are short trips of course, but I found them to be a nice way to see things by myself and get to know how the train functions, how I must plan my schedule and things like that.
I admit that I receive more attention from my parents compared to the amount my sister received. This might come from the fact, that I am the youngest child, which tends to be spoiled a little bit more perhaps.
If I face some difficulties in my life I don´t hesitate to talk with my mother or father, as I believe, that they would provide the best advice.
Within my circle of friends I am rather the one, who is initiative when it comes down to making decisions what we might do. I also tend to explain why I want to do something or not. In school I often carry out conflicts between my classmates and try to be diplomatique. Maybe that´s the reason why I was elected as the form captain of my class.
It is important for me, that I can stay to my decisions and act like I said I would.
My motivation to apply for the AFS program is that I believe, that I can gain experiences, which I wouldn´t make if I´d stay at home. I hope, that I can really make some efforts in understanding the language, the culture and the way of living in general of another country. And that this would open my mind for the challenges that will appear in my life. Although I am still young I feel, that the world is much bigger and more challenging compared to what I can experience in my home town. I also hope to get to know people, who I wouldn´t have met if I´d stayed at home.
I find it frustrating at times if I must repeat things over and over again, especially things, that I don´t like so much. It takes a lot of energy to find the motivation for these repetitions. Another situation which causes difficulties for me is when I have the feeling, that I cannot make myself understood, although I try hard. Sometimes my way of behaving seems to be misunderstood by others and it is difficult for me to fight against prejudice.
I have been in a difficult situation when my friend told me, that she has stolen 2oo. - Euros from her stepfather, whom I knew very well. On the one hand I didn´t want to let it out, while on the other hand, I knew that she had done wrong and I should speak with my parents and try solving this problem. So I talked with my mother finally, but couldn´t get rid of the feeling that I betrayed my friend. This put some weight on my emotions and it took a while until I got over it.
My intention is to finish school and go to university later on. I hope that I can make enough experiences to be able to make the right decision in regards to what I want to study later, what I am really interested in and where my skills are. I hope that my stay in Italy might help me finding my real interests in this regard.
I would like to work in a creative environment, which also gives me the opportunity to travel. As I am interested in foreign languages I would appreciate a job where I have the opportunity to speak other languages and meet people of other countries.
I am mostly interested in creative activities, like painting for example. My mum shows me a lot about painting, because she`s a great hobby- artist.
Another hobby is Chi Gong I do it three times a week. My mother and I go once a week to a “Chi- Gong- course”. I do Chi- Gong because I feel mentally free after doing a practice.
I also like reading science- fiction- books, but mostly the “Harry Potter”- series. I have read all of them several times!
I hope this time is going to be one of the best in my life, broad my horizon and that I will find many new friends and a second family.
Sincerely yours
Yours,
Lea
