This summer, my husband and I undertook a move. A relocation from Massachusetts to Arizona has been undertaken by others, no doubt. We decided to make things a little more interesting than a direct route. We headed north. Our circuitous route is winding us through Newfoundland, Portugal, and North Carolina. When one would think to take the southerly route from the Carolina’s to Arizona in the winter months, we will make Bugs Bunny’s famous right turn at Albuquerque to get to Bozeman, Montana. Then, we’ll drive to Arizona.

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.