TAMPERE, Finland — Like many of the conversations during my stay in Finland, this one flew right over my head.



Roope Hintz stepped up to the cashier, ordered something in Finnish, paid and started walking toward the coffee bar in the lobby of the Holiday Club Tampere Spa. Naturally I followed him in line, said hello in English – my dead giveaway that I don’t speak Finnish – and started to ask for a coffee.



That’s when the cashier gave me a strange look, and Hintz shuffled back in our direction.



C’mon, he motioned. He’d already bought two cups of coffee and certainly didn’t plan on drinking both by himself.



Awkwardness avoided, Hintz and I prepare our coffee before grabbing a seat in the hotel lobby. His includes cream; I take mine black. We had originally planned on grabbing coffee at Lapinniemen Ansari, which shares a parking lot with this hotel, but it’s 11:30 a.m. on a Monday and the restaurant...