6. Dear host family

Hello! My name is Pekka Raimo Juhani Järviauto and I will be living with you for 10 months. I have already read all about you, so I guess this letter will be primarily about me, my introduction. Where should I start? I'm a 16 year old male from Finland and for as long as I can remember, I have longed-for a chance to live in another country, but not because I dislike Finland, I love this place! It would just be temporary, since all my family and friends are here. That's the reason this student exchange programme is the best thing that could've happened to me, though maybe it's too early to say.  I just feel like broadening my horizons.
Regardless of the fact that I really do want to join this exchange programme, I had been feeling anxious for the past few months. My worries began with a simple question: what if the host family doesn't like me? But the moment I read about you guys I realized that I was overreacting. You seem like a nice family from what I read and I look forward to our time together.

I have lived in Käpylä, a district of Helsinki, for about 9 years now. It's a nice and quiet place with plenty of woods. I have always had a short walking distance to school and to the train station next to me, for which I'm very grateful. I compared the temperature differences of Sheffield and Helsinki and noticed that your daily hottest mean temperature is 16.9 °C in July and coldest 4.4 °C in January and February. Helsinki had 17.8 °C in July and -4.7 °C in February. Record low temperatures were for Sheffield -14.5 °C 111 years ago and -34.3 °C for Helsinki 29 years ago, and you get a bit more water than us. Now you might have an idea about the climate differences. I play football with my friends here really often, everyday when it is summer and I'm in Käpylä and almost everyday in autumn and spring. I'm 184 cm tall and I'm pretty slim. Brown hair and brown eyes. In my immediate family I have both my parents, a brother, both maternal grandparents, 3 maternal uncles and my dads mother. I also have a dog and two cats. The dog, Caroliina, is part Karelian Bear Dog and part Labrador Retriever.

The school I'm at right now is Helsinki School of Natural Sciences (Helsingin luonnontiedelukio or Hellu). It's a decent school and there are good teachers there. My english teacher is especially good, which is why I will be able to talk with you effectively when I'm there. All my friends went to different schools. That's the only negative part of going this one. I still see them everyday though, so it doesn't matter that much.

Like I already mentioned, I like football! I don't watch it that much but I play it alot, sometimes behind my old primary school but usually at the local sports field. I should be getting better at it simply because I play it so much, but I don't really see any progress. I saw that there are sports fields near your home too, we could definitely play there sometimes.

Can't think of anything else to say. We can chat with our emails, right? I think we both have each others info already. Look forward to meeting you! -Pekka

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