Card #5, A Delicious Sip of Porto

This lovely card hails from Porto, Portugal, known for its production of its own lovely variety of dessert wine. Of the Wikipedia articles I've read so far, Porto seems to be the most fascinating city I've heard from so far. The structures on this card are the Clerigos Tower and St. Bento's Station (which is sadly unrepresented on Wikipedia). Porto has had a long and storied history through its combination of being a major shipping port and being on the Iberian peninsula, which has undergone many major cultural transformations in its history. The city is also known for its cuisine, and its city center has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a very well-respected designation. This card comes from user blu, arriving on September 12 after 10 days of travel.

Card #4, Holy Penguins, Batman!

This postcard originates from the glorious city of Buenos Aires, Argentina! Very few postcards emerge from the South American continent, so I was thrilled when this one showed up in my mailbox. Buenos Aires is home to over 13 million people and was founded in 1536 under the original name of "Ciudad de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre." My father has always had a particular fondness for Argentina, and in particular, the people of that nation. He finds them among the kindest people on the planet. These are Magellanic Penguins, from the Patagonia region of Argentina, in the far south. This is where my father embarked on his sea voyage to Antarctica. This incredible postcard is from user KarmenS, a Slovenian currently living abroad in Buenos Aires. She recognized my last name as Slovenian.

Card #3, Normandie!

This beautiful map card shows the Normandy region of France, and user Fylo comes specifically from the city of Caen. Caen is a very old city, well-known for the architecture built during the reign of William the Conqueror around the turn of the first millennium. Caen received heavy damage during fighting from World War II. This map card seems to indicate that this region of France is famous for several commodities, including particular varieties of cheese, apples, cider, and shellfish. Map cards generally seem to be among the most coveted types of postcards available. This postcard reached me after 8 days of travel on September 10.

Card #2, Ferocious Beasts

My second postcard arrives from the lovely city of Groningen, Netherlands. Groningen is apparently the largest city in the northern part of the Netherlands, and dates as far back as 3950 BC. It is a large university town, with approximately 45,000 students. It was sent by user Christoffel, who is employed by a green political party in her country. This is the most popular card I have received so far, according to the lovely people at Flickr.

First card, Moose-alicious

My first postcard arrives from the chilly town of Oulu, Finland. Amazingly, this city is the home of the Air Guitar World Championships, which is a big enough deal that the winner is generally on David Letterman for a performance. I hope you'll read more about the lovely woman who sent this card here.

The Beginning

After having received 16 international postcards, and being thrilled by every single one of them, I've decided to keep a blog about them. I'd like to learn more about the places they come from, speculate and daydream about the faraway places from which they arrive. I have 16 postcards to catch up on, and I will make an individual entry for every postcard until I'm caught up. This is a personal project, but I hope you will enjoy it with me!

Girls Nights

I feel the need to update the hungry masses, people beating down the door to read the next installment of my riveting blog. :) I wanted to document that I have had two evenings so far which I believe qualify as "girl nights." The first was with Megan at the house on Friday Sept. 26, and it involved a jug of wine and take out. The second was last night, Oct. 2 at Rock Bottom with Dana and Megan. It was a good time! Below are old photos of myself with Megan and with Dana, both at Duke's bar in Homestead.