As I stand before the vending machine at Aalto University Executive Education in Helsinki, Finland, I find I can't fathom what most of the products are about. Apart from "moi", for "hello", I don't understand any Finnish, so I am continously resorting to people's abundant helpfulness and widespread knowledge of English to be able to figure out what my options are.
But then I see them. And I don a smug smile when I realize that I won't need any help to know that, from this machine, I will like numbers 21, 24 and 25, because even though the packages are all covered in Finnish, they also read Snickers, Milky Way and Dove.
Granted: their flavors may deviate slightly from what I am used to in the United States, but I expect the difference to be perfectly ok, interesting even, as I have learned from previous stints abroad.
So bring on the Finnish and the host of other languages I can't read. Just show me brands that I know and I'll show you a purchase.
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