03 Student Letter

Ciao!:)

Come state? Io sto bene e ho appena finito la lettera per l'associazione. STS richiede infatti una Student Letter che sarà poi letta dalle famiglie americane. E' un po' lunga, quindi se siete interessati a leggerla preparate un po' di pazienza:)

Dear host family,

my name is Lucabrando. It’s a strange name, probably unique in the world.  Everybody call me in different ways, who Brando, who Luca, who just Sanfi which is the diminutive of my surname.  I’m sixteen years old and let me write it, it’s so beautiful to write this letter! I’m so excited to do this. I come from a seaside town in the north of Italy. My city is not so big, but it’s a lovely city. I live with my aunt Paola and my father Angelo, who is the most important person in my live and my biggest example to  follow. He has an holiday village in Indonesia so I spend  my school holidays there. Year after year I’ve also learned the Indonesian language! Last year I did one hundred dives too in which I went deeper than 30 meters.  I’ve got a brother and a sister, Juanito and Freedom. They’re much older than me, Juanito is 37 years old instead of my sister who is 40. My brother even has ready a son and I’m ready un uncle. For a teenager it’s quite strange!  Family is really important to me and that’s why I really wish I'm going to feel a part of your family too. I really love to spend time with my family, but unfortunately this is not always possible. But there is an exception, the day of the soccer matches. We all do like soccer and stay all together on the couch to see the match is one of my favorite situation. I support Sampdoria, it doesn’t win a championship since 1990, but you know, the cheer is the cheer.  The school takes me a lot of time. I attend the Leonardo da Vinci scientific high school and I’m going quite good. It’s similar to your high school but we don’t choose our subjects. We do a lot of science subjects such as Math, Physics, Biology and Chemistry. We also study Latin and Art history. But my favorite ones are technical drawing and  philosophy. Some years ago I wanted to become an architect, another time a guitarist, another time a scientist. The point is that actually I still don’t know which job to do. But one thing that I do know, is that I want to become someone important, someone of those people who everybody talks about when they’re at the bar, at the office, wherever they are. I do want to become one of the few, not one of the many. I want to do this exchange year to clear my mind and understand more about my future. Another reason is that I love to change, having new experience, meeting new people. I do love to go out of my house and watch the life, not the desolation. The routine is getting boring after some time. That’s why I love to go in Indonesia after ten months of school. There I meet people from all over the world and it’s fantastic. Why did I choose the USA? Well, the United States seem to be one of those country where the meritocracy works. There are the best university in the world and I see the United States like a dream, that kind of things that most of the people just watch on the television. United States are the place of the Great Lakes, of the Big Apple, of Hollywood. United States are the place where you can find ice and deserts. Unites States are the place where the Blues was born, where thousands of geniuses were born. Also I chose the United States because my father lived in California for two years and has been around the East Cost and I’ve been always fascinated by his travel stories. Then, learning English is too important at these days, at least for the next fifty years.

 In my free time I do different things in the days. After the school I use to go the gym or stay at home and just have some relax. I’ve been playing the guitar for six years and I’m pretty good. My guitar is called Destiny and I love to play it. But I’m not a metal head! I do listen more acoustic sounds. My favorite bands are Pink Floyd, Oasis and Coldplay. I listen U2, Verve, Guns ‘n’ Roses and Queen too. I’ve never been to a concert, I hope to see one in the USA. Everybody say that is a big emotion. Writing songs is also one of my hobbies. In the middle school I’ve been participating  in a writing concourse for two years and I arrived seventh on the first year and second on the second year. And there were more than 200.000 students coming from all the corners of Italy! I was so happy!                                                                                                                                   I love, of course, to stay with my friends. When we go out we go to the main square and to the most famous streets. There we walk and have some shopping. Other times we walk near the beach having an ice-cream.  Otherwise, if we go the park we play soccer and take some photos. If we don’t go out, we stay at home of someone. When I’m alone at home I like to invite friends, so we can have dinner and sleep together. I have a special relation with my best friends Elisa, Pietro and Edoardo. I know them since I was just one meter high and I consider them part of my family. With them I share all the things of my life, because I trust and I am proud to have them.  Another passion of mine is cooking. I believe that is a sort of art which can be personalized by all of us. Sometimes I did also a typical USA dish: the cheesecake! I’ll be happy to cook for you some typical Italian dishes!                                                                                                                                                                                   If it’s a rainy day I often watch a film, at home or at the cinema, it doesn’t matter. My favorite actors are Johnny Depp and Jennifer Lawrence. The first because he can performs in so many roles. The second one because she has just reset the new qualitative standards on the big screen. She is so good that sometimes when I watch one of her films I become speechless. I especially appreciated films such as Forrest Gump, Transformers 3, Hunger Games, Enemy of the State. I love comical, dramatic and love story and science fiction films. I like to read too and I’m fascinated by astronomy.  I really enjoyed the Da Vinci Code for example, or the biography of Steve Jobs and Into the Wild. When I stay with my brother and sister we have lunch together. My brother has a restaurant on the beach and the food there is very good! After the lunch, I really love to play with my nephew. He is only five years old but I can guarantee that I make a lot of fun with him! He loves soccer too and we play infinitive matches. Another thing he loves are the animals. In particular he loves dinosaurs and I usually have to be the t-rex. He always wants to win but I let him do it, he is just a kid! If I have some days of holiday me and my father love to go around Italy and Europe to see new places and city. The most beautiful for me are London and Rome. I think that travelling is one of the most important things in the life. Travelling opens your mind and let you know new horizons. I’ve been to Spain many times and when I was a baby I lived there for a year. I’ve been also in England, France, Singapore, Indonesia and in more than twenty airports. I’m looking forward to see American places in my life, from the California beaches to the Michigan lakes, from the Arizona desert to the biggest cities of the East Coast. I don’t like extreme weathers. Maybe because I’ve always lived in a temperate climate where is never extremely hot or extremely cold. That’s why my favorite season is spring and the middle time between it and summer. It’s beautiful to see and to live it too, not too hot, not too cold: it’sperfect!                                                                                                                                                                I’m  agnostic. I just don’t care about religions because I think that everyone can be good without following any religion. I’ve been thinking of them for a lot time but I just can’t figure out.  Even so, I accept and I consider possible the existence of a God. Everybody say that I’m little bit strange and I come out with the strangest ideas and things. Someone says that I’m outgoing, mature and altruist, others that I’m cultured, sincere and reliable. I think they’re right. Privacy for me is very important so sometimes I can be very reserved. I’m direct, if there is something wrong I say it. I like to help the people I care because I know how to listen and how to speak, so it seems.  I’m really curious to know new things and I’m a very reflective guy. Rarely I don’t plan the days and the week so that I can have the most possible free time without wasting time. Rarely I’m sad, I always try to live with smile. I’m very ambitious and determinate, I try to do the best as possible.  I think that I do have to fight to have what I want, I think that I must live in a life that I recognize me in. This is it. Sometimes I can be sweet with somebody, but never with everyone. Of course I’m not perfect, but who is? Now, I would like to thank you for the opportunity you’re giving me. I get really hyper when I talk about this year and I’ve just hang a map of the USA on the wall of my room. This will be the greatest experience I’ve never had and you’ll be part of it, the most important I think. I’m going to share with you all, my doubts, my certainties, my project, my dreams and my life. I would like if this experience would be not great just for me, but also for you. I would like to thank you because you’re going to change my life e grow me up. Finally, I would like to thank you to make me be hyper day after day, hoping you will be hyper too for this, our, great experience.

With love,              

Lucabrando

Alla prossima!

"Viaggiare è camminare verso l'orizzonte, incontrare l'altro, conoscere, scoprire e tornare più ricchi di quando si era iniziato il cammino."