Have you ever had a penpal? Would you have a one?  

I had a pen pal in elementary school. It was a really cool feeling to send a letter and get something in return. Ours was with people in another state. With the advent of the email though, the concept of pen pal is really kind of diminished. Ask anyone under 16 and my bet is that they don't even know what a pen pal is.

Yeah, i had a penpal before. She's Zahida Ebrahim from England. I met her on Optichat last 2002 and decided to write letters. It felt great to be receiving letters from her. I hope she felt the same thrill. She was 16 then. I don't how she is doing right now but i think she has grown up to be a fine lady. She's a mix of Indian and Portuguese descent.

I used to have a German penpal, she was really nice, and I loved receiving letters from her. I also had a Japanese penpal - which was really cool, because I'm learning Japanese and I love being able to have someone correct me & give me helpful advice (as far as learning the language goes). :) Unfortunately, things got really busy for me & I haven't written either of them back in forever.

I never had an overseas pen pal while growing up, but I always wanted one. After I grew up and started traveling, I made friends in other countries, but gradually, I have moved and lost touch with all of them. I rarely even get a real card or letter from friends in the States anymore. Getting something personal in the mail is a real treat. No one writes letters, which is a real shame. I still get an occasional holiday or birthday card, but it's all dropping off.

It's too bad because there is nothing better than mail. I don't think writing online to people has the same impact at all. Sure, it can be good to have instant communication, but savoring a letter is a unique experience.

I have to agree with one of the other posters here. I doubt that kids of today even know what a pen pal is.

I remember in the "old days" writing to someone via the mail was something. Nowadays people just chit chat over the internet. You have email friends. I wouldn't have another pen pal because growing up it was nice to have
"antasy friends" but reality is my friends are my immediate family.

Yes, I did ages ago, but it was only because it was a class assignment. One was picked out for me, but the only thing I remember is her first name. Beyond that? Nothing. I wrote one letter to her and she to me, but I lost her address and never found it because I honestly didn't care enough to bother looking. I could have asked my teacher for it, but I didn't. I don't even have the letter anymore. I was mostly apathetic about it since I was never interested in having a penpal. That hasn't changed.

I have had many penpals over the years. Some of them were from my own country and others were from around the world. I have had penpals from Germany, Scotland, France, Italy, Greece, Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Poland, Bulgaria, China, Japan, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Kenya, Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Brazil, Costa Rica, the U.S., Australia.... I started writing letters to penpals when I was 11, I am 32 now and I lost touch with most of my "old" penpals long ago, but I still keep in touch with a girl from Italy. We have been penfriends for 12 years now, and I am going to visit her soon.

Hello,I have never had a penpal,but I would like to.I think Im the one who want to write back and forth with you~

I tried having pen pals when I was young. But never really responded to them. Because I was afraid then. It just makes me laugh today when I remember their letters. Some even came from far flung places.

I don't know about the young these days because having penpals means having to write letters, and this is not the trend for some teenagers nowadays. Maybe they use email instead. But when I was a teenager in school, I used to have a female penpal from the Philippines called Evelyn. She was studying in college then. The funny thing is I wrote to her sister first to be my penpal, but it was Evelyn who made the move to return my letter and became my penpal instead. Over a couple of years, I exchanged quite a good number of letters with her and even photographs. Now all these happened about 37 or 38 years ago. And you know what? Today I still have Evelyn's photograph and all the letters she wrote to me. I keep them in my drawer for sentimental reasons, but I have stopped corresponding with her donkey years ago.