Dear Host family,

I’ve been dreaming about living in the states since I can’t remember. I grew up watching Disney channel and dreaming about going to school, going to prom and watching the school games.

Now It’s time to talk a little about me.

My name is Helena Consoli, I’m sixteen and I live in a small town near Catania, a pretty big city in Sicily. I love where I live, my house is about 30 minutes away from the sea and in the summer I love to spend my days at the beach with my family and friends, playing beach volley and swimming. Ok but, who is my family made up of? My father’s name is Alessandro, he’s a loving fifty-five-year-old man and he works by representing some motorcycle companies in Sicily. My mother, Fabiana, she’s forty three and she’s a housewife, even if she always helps my dad at his work. My mom is Brazilian so she conveyed to us the love for Brazilian music. I also have a little brother, Andrea, he’s ten and he’s the sweetest boy in the world, even if we often fight… but we love each other! My family and I love to spend time together, we usually play board games or cards (that’s a very common thing to do here in sicily). But the thing that we love the most is listening to music and dancing together. I always sing old songs with my dad, like “eyes without a face” or “with or without you” even if our favorite song to listen together is “sweet child o’ mine” and we like to pretend that we’re at a rock concert playing electro guitars and singing out loud. During the summer we go to the seaside. In fact, my aunt has a house in Sant’alessio Siculo (a little seaside town) and she often hosts us. There we spend time swimming, diving, exploring new shores or just tanning on the beach. During the winter we go skiing in the north of Italy; I’ve learnt how to ski two year ago and I became very good at it. I attend high school in Catania, I don’t have any problems at school, my favorite subjects are philosophy, art history and, of course, English. I don’t know where my love for English comes from, but l've always been able to understand it quite naturally, so that l've never had the necessity to study it hard.

I'm very active and in my free time I can't stay without doing anything. I love doing physical activities: the ones that I like most are volleyball and beach volley. I practise beach volley three times a week and I always enjoy the trainings because I feel very relaxed. I would love to join a volleyball team in the US! One of my dreams has always been being a cheerleader so I hope I'll take part of my American school's cheerleader's team. Other sports I've heard about and I would like to try there are surf (when I see surfers on TV I always envy them, it must be so fun!) and other sea sports like windsurfing.

My main passion in singing, I’ve bern singing since I can’t remember but I started taking lessons five years ago. I love how singing makes me feel free and relaxed. At first I was afraid to perform in public, but with time I started to take part in many concerts with my singing school. I also love watching movies and I usually watch them in English, so I can improve it. I usually go out with my friends on weekends. I have a lot of friends but only one is my best friend: Sara. We’ve known each other for about seven years and we’re always together. I always have fun with her, even when we just hang out at home.

When we go out we usually go for a walk, to the mall, to the cinema or to parties. Talking about my personality I’m really outgoing. In fact, I like making friends and getting to know new people. I’m sure this experience will help me grow, morally and culturally speaking. I want to get to know more about the American culture and explore new places.

I hope I’ll find a second family in the US, who will accompany me through my journey.

Can’t wait to get to know you! See you soon! Best regards,

Helena