A college senior is taking "share a table, win a friend" to greater heights - by making friends through restaurant invites. Sarah Litwin, a college senior at the University of Pennsylvania, wants to bring strangers together to become friends with each other, meeting over Philadelphia food, The Daily Pennsylvanian reported.
Litwin, who enjoys experiencing various restaurant atmospheres and food with friends, sends out invites to various groups of students in Penn, inviting four to five students at a time to a meal at a Philadelphia restaurant. Places to eat include L'Angolo Ristorante and Talula's Garden, places that she wants to visit before her last semester at Penn ends.
In her recent invite over Google form, she listed more than 10 restaurants, and sent the invites to groups such as PennQuest and Bloomers.
Her initiative, Litwin says, hopes to help students who stay "inside the bubble" to come out, expand their reach, try new places, and meet new people. She also hopes to share her passion for exploring various restaurants and cuisines with more people.
Rebecca Schwartz, a friend of Litwin's, can attest to her friend's passion for new restaurants. She said there was a time wherein they met in Barcelona and went to a restaurant to eat breakfast. She said Litwin asked the waiter for three entrees, even after the waiter showed her how big the plates or servings are.
Natalie Weiss, another friend, says Litwin will make seven Restaurant Week reservations of various sizes and will invite pretty much anybody who shows interest.
Litwin, who apparently enjoys what she's doing, said eating together is a "communal experience," adding that family dinners were an important part of her life as she grew up. She started this her initiative because she doesn't see many opportunities for students to eat together off campus.
Making new friends over new food in a new place is an enjoyable thing, and while anybody can join her in the initiative, Litwin says upperclassmen and the adventurous kind of students are those who will benefit from this experience.
And with Litwin's initiative, people don't only get the opportunity to try out a new place off campus. They get to make new friends too.
