Dear host family

« Dear host family My name is Thuan and at the time I am writing this letter I really don’t know who’s going to receive it, it’s actually my first time writing a letter to a person that I am not acquainted to and even more on the other side of the globe, and I think it is also my last time. Let me introduce myself, I am 16 years olds in class of “seconde” the French equivalent of form 5 or 6 in New Zealand I think ,I still haven’t fully grasped how your educational system work to be honest .

I live in Ile de France which is a very nice region despite all the recent bad press … My daily life is quite simple nothing too extraordinary, I wake up around 6:3O am and make breakfast for my family, at 7:30 am I head to school and take the public transport (approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour), I work till 5:05 pm and go back to my place where I do my homework and hobbies.

After that I help to do the house chores and make dinner (my mother and grandmother taught me how to cook), in particularly Asian food, Vietnamese to be more accurate but my culinary skills are still not quite there according to my friends. I like to spend most of my time outside with friends, reading or practicing sport, I am huge fan of climbing and calisthenics due to my mother and father who are both very sporty people. I have been practicing climbing for over eight or nine years now and my level is still very low compared to most of my gym mates … But I keep trying and it’s very fun to train in a boulder gym with friends.

For my taste in literature, it all comes from my mother, my father has never been too much onto book.

We have a huge library in our house, so it was inevitable that one day I was going to start reading...

And since then, it never stopped.

I have a personal preference for historical book no matter the subject as long as it contains dates and speak of historical fact, it makes my day . Hiking is also one of my favourite’s activities, I rarely have the occasion to do it, so every time I get the chance, I oblige my parents to accompany me. I am really interested in all cultural differences especially concerning the educational system of diverse countries, In France our educational system promotes grades in priorities and not the fulfilment of its students, so a lot of teenagers are often crushed under the pressure exercised by their professors.

Luckily it is not my case, but it is one of the reasons why I want to experience the high school life of other countries.

And especially New Zealand because of the importance they put in the wellbeing.... »