AlinaLos

Hello to everyone!

My name's Alina and I'm from Ukraine (originally from Dnipro, now living in Kyiv). I have a Master's degree in Political Science and I work for an NGO dealing with anti-corruption issues.

For the last 2 years, my dream is moving to Vancouver, Canada. I'm registered in the Express Entry and really wait to be invited but covid-19 messed up the emigration process:(

As for my hobbies, I really like racing bicycles - I've been doing cycling for 5+ years. I also love travelling, especially hiking in the mountains - I have quite a lot of extreme stories about my adventures)

I've been to Austria, Belarus, Denmark, Egypt, France, Georgia, Italy, Hungary, Israel, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey. I also have experience of living in Estonia and Latvia for around 1 year.

To add, I'm an active user of Couchsurfing. When I explored Postcrossing and Swap-bot, I realized these are another wonderful platforms to get closer to different people and cultures in the world. I believe I can not only send and receive beautiful pictures but also know more about your life and values.

What else.., oh, I love rock and metal music if it matters:)

But what is most important, I do love exchanging postcards and letters. I'm curious to know "What is the most memorable or extreme moment in your life?" or just tell me about your day. Nice stamps and stickers are appreciated as well:)

I'm looking forward to receiving a card or letter from you!

P.S. If you are interested in being penpals with me, let me know as well!

I love love love postcards from my wish-list. This is common to mention that it's good to receive any kind of postcards but I'm quite picky in this sense. For me, the postcards received based on my wish-list mean that a person has read my profile and really got interested in making me a bit happier:) So, I hope you have something from below (the list goes in the priorities order):

• pin-up girls, as well as nudes of both genders;
• photos of racing bicycles (can't even express how much I love them);
• photos of mountains (especially the tops of mountains);
• couples in nature / in the mountains (hikers, Alpinists);
• people with tattoos and cigarettes;
• retro postcards, especially American western;
• any maxi-cards;
• 'surprise cards' based on my profile info (something beyond this wish-list but still related to my background and interests).

Thank you so much for reading this! It is appreciated a lot!

Sorry for being that capricious but sometimes I receive postcards which are chosen/prepared rather apathetically - it goes to ad/promotional postcards and one-coloured or abstract postcards which mean nothing. I'm also not a big fan of touristic cards which are sold at each corner, especially multi-view cards. Lastly, I don't really like painted cards - as for me, photos look much better (but of course, there are fantastic painted cards as well - you better feel it:). So, please, leave the cards from this small list to those who really love them (p.s. and throw away all the ad cards, it seems nobody likes them, haha:) Thank you!

Besides postcards, I'm really into penpalling. So, if you write letters and want to get some from Ukraine - I'm always ready to start keeping our correspondence) Talking about letters, I do love to get fatty envelopes full of nice stuff like decorative tapes, stickers, photos, paintings, postcards, old stamps and everything you are able to put in).

Recently I've also started collecting coins. You'll make me extremely happy if putting some of your national or foreign coins in the envelope (by the way, I usually glue coins on the surface of my postcards, they arrive well).

The coins I've already have can be checked here - https://cutt.ly/6QPUR7g

Oh, I love movies which make me feel careless. My favourite movie is probably the Moonrise Kingdom by brilliant Wes Anderson. Another masterpiece in my view is Dead Poets Society. I'm also a fan of Lost in Translation movie. My favourite filmmaker is definitely Wes Anderson.

At the moment my favourite book is Dale Carnegie's How To Stop Worrying and Start Living. This piece helps me live actually and get through hardships. So, I appreciate valuable psychological books. Besides this, I'm a fan of the books about alpinism and mountaineering. The most awesome book within this category is Crystal Horizon: Everest: The First Solo Ascent by unbeatable Reinhold Messner.