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Joana. 26. Born and raised in the westernmost country of mainland Europe. I'm a book obsessed, cat lover, snailmail enthusiast, introvert (not trying to change that), craftaholic and a hoarder of the lost and forgotten things :) Long letter writer (the real ones!), a thinker, self-conscious, observant & introspective. INFJ. Autodidact who loves to learn new things and absorve all the beautiful things penpalling brings to my mailbox. Supermarket girl who dug into archaeology & art studies once.

Patti Smith. Florence + the machine. Soap&Skin. The Kills. Harrys Gym. The Gathering. Anneke van Giersbergen. Lana del Rey. PJ Harvey. Janis Joplin. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The Dresden Dolls. Dazkarieh. Young Heretics. Noblesse Oblige. Antony and the Johnsons. Bat For Lashes. Amanda Palmer. The Xx. Lykke Li. Cocteau Twins. Radiohead. The Animals. Nebelhexë. The Doors. Opeth. Värttinä. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan. La Roux. Lamb. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Bob Dylan. Jeff Buckley. Yann Tiersen. Dire Straits. Siouxsie And The Banshees. Led Zeppelin. Jethro Tull. The Beatles. +

Three of my biggest passions are books, stories and words. Words make stories, and stories make great book to be read. I guess I'm a hoarder, I have books all around my room and keep getting more. I almost never buy new books, I buy them in second-hand or trade them, they are even more magical to me because I always imagine where they have been before, how old they are and what stories they have to tell, beyond the story it contains inside its covers.

FAVOURITE WRITERS - Haruki Murakami, José Saramago, Gabriel García Márquez, Jane Austen, Emily and Charlotte Brontë, Anaïs Nin, J.R.R. Tolkien, Eça de Queirós, Fiodor Dostoievski, Franz Kafka, Marguerite Duras, Patti Smith, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jules Verne, J.K.Rowling, Herberto Helder, Erico Verissimo, Jorge Amado, George R.R. Martin

FAVOURITE BOOKS - Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë, Just Kids Patti Smith, Kafka on the Shore (and pretty much all by Haruki Murakami), One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez, Emma and Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen, The God of Small Things Arundhati Roy, The Lover Marguerite Duras, Under a Glass Bell Anïs Nin, Death with Interruptions José Saramago, Os Maias Eça de Queirós, The Death of Bunny Munro Nick Cave, The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka, Great Expectations Charles Dickens, 1984 George Orwell, Genji Monogatari Murasaki Shikibu, Mar Morto Jorge Amado, White Nights Fiodor Dostoievski, Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden, Wide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys

POETRY - Fernando Pessoa. Walt Whitman. Edgar Allan Poe. Emily Dickenson. E.E. Cummings. Sylvia Plath. Pablo Neruda

• themes and styles: airmail, lighthouses, anchors, cats, dreamcatchers, sugar skulls, vintage & retro, dandelions and poppies, feathers, birds, typewriters, tarot, esoteric,

• red is my favourite colour. + black and warm colours, leopard patterns, etnic, retro patterns.

• Ephemera, old photos and maps

• Postcards with views from your country or something cultural from your country. Please write something in the back side and sign.

• animals: CATS, lady bugs, owls, dragonflies, foxes, deers, elephants. I love animals very much but as for a pattern I would love those.

• Autumn, Halloween

• I love notebooks, zines and books (in Portuguese or English, please)

• Only handwritten letters or typed in old typewriters (so cool!)

• Tea (individually packaged bags)

• Stationery, it's quite hard to find it here so I would love to swap some, that is how I do :) Envelopes where a long letter can fit :)

• Stories, poems, essays, photos.

• Washi tape and rubber stamps

• handmade but with quality

• tattoos (sugar skulls, old school tattoos themed, etc)

• watercolours

• scarves, snow globes, themed cookie cans

• No religious items

• Do not send me things you wouldn't want to get yourself

• No scratched/dirty/damaged things

• Don't send me used things (unless they are gently used and in excellent condition)

• Touristic bargains from your country unless the swap is about that. I have no use to items from countries where I have never been, though postcards are welcome as any other really cool things. No pens, magnets, etc.

• No food

• No bright colours/shiny or too pinkish items

• kawaii, Disney, Hello Kitty, cartoons, anime or manga, etc

• I really dislike rudeness, so be kind

I just swap from time to time, but I always put some effort in my swap whether I send a lot of things or not. I tend to sign up in smaller/flat swaps because it annoys me very much to put a lot of effort (and money) into something and receive a bunch of dirty/used things in return. I'm not a flaker and I hope to swap with honest people.

I don't like late senders, when I join a swap I make due I'll be able to send my items as soon as possible. If something happens I'll let my partners know and I'll not use fake excuses.