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Sitting at a bar in Helsinki, my dear friend Cecily and I were approached by a guy in shockingly pink pants. They were well tailored, and, as we would find out, the tailoring had been done by his drinking friend who often made trips to Italy for fabrics. We shared some licorice alcohol with them, learned a few words of Finnish (mostly Cecily, who has an incredible knack for languages) and learned that in Finland, it is traditional to hit yourself with a birch branch when you are in the sauna. Briefly, Cecily and I tried to figure out how we could get a hold of a few birch branches to take to the sauna at our hotel. However, as it turns out, the hotel prohibited birch branches. Only at a private sauna club could we get the true Finnish experience. However, with only two days in the city and no membership to a sauna club, we had to accept defeat.

Dinner that night was one of complete excess: a creamy reindeer soup, fresh Finnish cheese with berries, reindeer and mashed potatoes and lingonberry Vodka. I felt the sheer exuberance and enthusiasm that comes with the discovery of new foods paired with a dear friend.