2008-09-15

"Personligt brev" till min au pair-ansökan

Jag vet att det förmodligen inte är nån där ute som kommer orka läsa igenom hela det här inlägget (förutom min mamma förstås), men om nån gör det - snälla ge mig lite feedback. Efter att ha suttit och stirrat mig blind på det här brevet i gud-vet-hur-många timmar, slipat, finslipat och sen finslipat lite till, så har jag nu ingen objektivitet whatsoever kvar i mig. Så ni med era nya fräscha ögon, hjälp mig att göra det här till det bästa brevet en "Host Family" kan få.
-
-
Dear host family.

I don’t really know what I can write about myself that you don’t already know from my application. But I’ll start from the beginning.
My name is Caroline Åkerblom and I’m nineteen years old. I was born on the 27th of October 1988, which means that by the time I go to America I’ll have turned twenty. I live in a place called Jakobsberg which is a suburb to Stockholm - the capital of Sweden. I’ve lived here all my life so I consider myself more or less a city-girl. (Although I doubt Stockholm’s “city-life” is anything compared to the big cities in the United States.)

I’ve been told that what you probably are the most interested in is my childcare experience so I’ll get to that right away. I have two older siblings who both have children, and I’ve been around them, helping them, playing with them ever since they were born. My youngest niece who is six years old is the one I’m closest to. I see her all the time, and whenever my sister needs a babysitter I’m the first one she calls. When we’re together I try to come up with fun activities for us both to do, such as baking, going to the park, or just plain and simple playing a board game together.
Then there’s my brothers children, they are all between the ages of twelve and seventeen so I haven’t done a lot of actual “babysitting” with them. But I do help them with homework from time to time and whenever they feel they need someone “younger” to talk to they come to me.
A part from me babysitting my relatives I recently worked as an intern at a nursery school. I was there for about three weeks and I was hooked after the first day. The job there included everything from playing with the children to helping them go to sleep at “nap-time”. Whenever I think back on my time there I get mixed feelings. I get really happy because it was by far the best job I’ve ever had and then I get sad because I miss it so much.
After being at the nursery school I realised how much I love working with children (I even asked them if I can work there as a substitute teacher before I go abroad.) and the idea of going to America to work as an au pair made me even more excited.

When I graduated from gymnasium little over a year ago I spent three months in Greece. I felt I needed to do something for myself for once, so I signed up for a bartending course. It lasted for four weeks and when it was finished I stayed and worked for the rest of the season. The reason I went there was because I wanted to do something different after having gone to school for so long and I wanted to experience something on my own. The summer of 2007 was by far the best summer of my life and I hope a year in America will be even better.

The reason I chose America as the country to go to is because I find it a fascinating place. The people, the language, the culture… It seems so different from myself and the typically Swedish upbringing I’ve had. I haven’t actually been to America so all I’m basing this on is what I’ve seen on TV and read in news papers, but I’ve always wanted to go there. I want to see what it is that everybody is talking about.

What else can I tell you about me?
I’m a fun, loving, positive person who’s always looking for new activities and new experiences. With that said there are a couple of things that always stay with me. One is my passion for dancing. I love to dance. If I could I would do it every day for the rest of my life. Unfortunately I didn’t discover my passion for it until I was about sixteen, and by then it was too late to start any real career move that could include dance. So instead I started taking evening classes and I have been ever since. I’ve tried everything from classic ballet to feminine hip hop and I hope I will get a chance to continue this even when I’m in America.
Another thing that I love is movies. I love watching movies and I love the art behind making one. I love the fact it gives you an opportunity to escape the real world for a couple of hours and just get completely absorbed in someone else’s problem (even though they’re fictional). I still haven’t figured out exactly what I want to do with my life but if I were to get a chance to work in the movie industry, whether it’s editing, directing or simply getting coffee for one of the actors, I would be in heaven.
Another thing that has always been consistent in my life is my interest in reading. I’ve been reading ever since I learnt how to spell my name and my book collection gets bigger every the day. You can barely let me walk by a book store without me going in and buying at least one book, usually more. For the past years I’ve been reading almost exclusively in English. I feel that you can express yourself so much better using the English language compared to the Swedish and I’m hoping I will get a chance to take some sort of literature class if I go to the States.

So now you’re wondering how I came to choose the Au Pair In America programme. Well, for the past year I’ve been walking around wondering what I should do with my life. I’ve taken any job I could get my hands on hoping it would give me some inspiration to what I want to do. And everywhere I go people are telling me I should go back to school and get a degree and “make something of myself”. And yes, I do want to do all those things, but I also want to travel and see the world and experience new things, and I want to do it while I’m still young enough to do it.
And that’s how I found Au Pair in America. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to do all those things I’ve been wanting to. And at the same time I get to live in a family where I can grow and make myself useful. It will be the biggest adventure and the biggest challenge I’ve ever been on and I can’t wait for it to start.

I look forward to hearing from you!

Yours sincerely
Caroline

4 kommentarer:

maria sa...

very good. very good.
im produ of you, my little child ^__^

fia sa...

jag tycker ditt personliga brev var jättebra, håller just nu på att skriva mitt. svårare än jag trott...

Anonym sa...

bra start

anna sa...

Ditt personliga brev var riktigt bra! :D Just nu skriver jag också mitt, men som Fia säger; De är svårare än vad man tror. Nu är det ett tag sedan , hehe, som du skrev det där så hoppas verklgien du kom iväg och sådana fall hade ett riktigt häftigt år i USA! Jag är lite feg, så håller mig till England. Känns lite mer safe ifall man inte trivs osv. :P
Kram, Anna