In my first year teaching, I started a pen-pal program with my year 9 students. Engaging the help of an international organization, my Long Island, New York students interacted with others their own age all around the world. Fifteen years later, one former student, while on a trip to Italy, recently met up with her Italian pen-pal and got a first-hand tour of her friend’s city. Their letters may have introduced them, but their continued conversations made them friends.