Japanese for opening email to homestay family

[anvil1024105]

みんなさん、

For my trip to Japan I'm participating in a homestay. I would like to send them a little "getting to know you" email before my stay thanking them for inviting me into their home for the upcoming trip, among other things.

Does anyone have any suggestions for good openers in Japanese and maybe some formal phrases/sayings to ingratiate one's self with the family? I'm still a beginner in the language, so any help would be immensely appreciated!

[Jessi]

anvil1024105さん,

Have fun on your homestay! I did one in high school and it was a life-changing experience

You could start your letter with something like はじめまして、わたしは[name]といいます。 Adding something like お世話（せわ）になります at the beginning or end would also be a nice touch, since they will be taking care of you ^^

[anvil1024105]

Awesome! ありがとうございます、Jessiさん！ I'll be sure to use it.

[mumbim37_497427]

Hi.
I would love to go to Japan and do a homestay with a family but i dont know how you connect with the japanese people to do that. is there like a website or something? How did u connect with the ones u are going to stay with?

[community.japanese]

mumbim37-san,
kon'nichiwa!

I'm not very sure about that, but maybe this website could help you:
http://www.homestay-in-japan.com/eng/index.html

Good luck!

Natsuko (奈津子),
Team JapanesePod101.com