The development of new technologies and methods of communication has made the exchange of paper letters and greeting cards a thing of the past. Those who have not forgotten how pleasant it is to receive a "real" letter will certainly be interested in a popular project in a number of countries - postcrossing.
Postcrossing as a project uniting millions of people from different countries emerged in 2005. Its essence is in the exchange of postcards between the participants. The official website of this interesting movement is www.postcrossing.com. After registering on it and waiting for confirmation of receipt of the first postcard you sent, you can expect dozens of beautiful cards from various countries. At the same time, of course, do not forget to send interesting postcards telling about your city, its sights, famous people and about the country in general. Each message is accompanied by several lines of wishes, a story about yourself or an interesting fact. At the end of the message is usually written a wish, familiar to all fans of this movement, Happy postcrossing!
The official website of the project is in English, but there is nothing difficult in registration. It is also better to sign the postcards themselves in English, after all, this is the language of international communication. When the system issues a list of a variety of addresses, it is advisable not to rush to the post office right away, sending a primitive monotonous text, albeit on a beautiful card, to everyone in a row. It is better to "get to know" your addressee by examining his profile. Often they write there wishes, what images they would like to receive, a story about their hobbies and passions. Based on this information, you can please a person not only by the very fact of receiving a new copy for his collection, but also by the text written personally for him. Often, friendships are established in this way, albeit only by correspondence. To do this, people write their contact information on the postcard, most often their email address.
A text or famous quote in your own language is also acceptable in a postcard, but it is better to attribute below the translation of the message. After all, it is interesting to receive inscriptions in Japanese or another unknown language, knowing the translation of what was written.
For many, postcrossing is a virtual travel opportunity. Letters from countries that sometimes people don't even know exist broaden their horizons. Some begin to study the history of countries, individual cities or biographies of great people because of one single postcard with the image of some historical object. Others love to get pictures of nature, which sometimes works wonders. A famous waterfall, volcano, lake or mountain will be of great interest to travelers who can change the route of a planned vacation if they are eager to see the miracle of nature depicted on the card with their own eyes.
The possibility of direct exchange between users on the site allows a person to receive news from a country that he has always dreamed of visiting or which in the past has left him impressed.
Choosing postcards to send is a whole story. Large greeting cards are not for postcrossing. The people participating in the project exchange one-sided postcards. Traditional options are usually presented at the post office, although new interesting collections appear due to the scale and popularity of the project. There are also online stores or small shops where you can buy unique postcards. The most popular for exchange are images of landmarks, ancient buildings, famous monuments, etc. Someone indicates in the profile that they want to get an image of kittens, hedgehogs or foxes from different parts of the world. Others are interested in famous historical figures. Still others are interested in national holidays. Sometimes you can even get a postcard from the collection of the past and even the century before last. Anything is possible in postcrossing.
