Anya is a 22 year old snail mail enthusiast from St. Petersburg (Russia) who loves everything paranormal. She can thank her German pen pal for introducing her to Postcrossing.

How did you come across Postcrossing? What got you hooked?

Snail mailing has always been my passion - I've been pen-palling since the age of 13 and by that age I had already made a few great friends. Being in a Summer camp or having a vacation at a sea resort, I would send little notes, letters or postcards to friends (whether they loved it or not) and also to myself :). And, of course, I was ignoring sayings like "why send letters? it's all left in the last century, emails are way faster!" Pfff, there's no way to explain to others why a real card or a real letter is way better than a couple of typed lines on your computer screen.

For years, only my great friends would, once in a while, send me postcards from their vacations and I would look through them with delight. I don't travel much and seeing other countries this way was beautiful. When a German pen pal mentioned Postcrossing in her letter, I immediately thought "Yes, that's exactly what I need" and registered right away. Besides seeing the world through postcards, Postcrossing is an awesome way of interacting with many different people (I'm very social and enjoy meeting new people), different cultures, languages, thoughts, ideas, different types of handwriting. Most of all I adore the surprise - you never know who'll send you a card, what it will be like, and from what place it'll be coming from. Every postcard is unique. And, of course, there's nothing finer than opening your mailbox after a tiring workday and finding a postcard which has traveled half the world to YOU with some friendly lines. I get something in the mail at least daily and it has become a great part of my life.

Do you have any other interesting hobbies?

Besides snail mail, I love learning foreign languages (I can speak 3 so far), reading (I'm such a bookworm!), anything related to Latin America, and psychology. But perhaps my biggest hobby is the paranormal - I'm interested in symbols, runes, astrology, tarot cards, spirits, etc. and am always willing to learn more. I wish I could call traveling my hobby too, but sadly I don't have a chance to travel as much as I would like to.

Show us your mailbox, your mailman/mailwoman, your postoffice or the place where you post or keep your postcards!

Ugly mailboxes in my apartment building, where I get my mail :D

Me sending mail

Show & tell us about your favorite received postcard to date, and what makes it special.

Of course every postcard is unique for me, but here are a few I can easily call favorites.

A castle from Ireland - at which I was staring for a few minutes in delight; beautiful Copacabana beach (I LOVE Brasil and so far it's the #1 country on my list to visit); a gorgeous B&W Lisboa view reminding me of something from the past; and, a cute sparkling romantic postcard received from Finland last year on St. Valentines day. The user wrote so many pleasant words that I was smiling from ear to ear. That card made my day and improved my bad mood quite a bit.