Sharing a bottle of wine, by Emi Gomez

The first weekend of April, four of my friends and I decided to take a trip to Paris. Paris is one of the largest cities that attracts millions of tourists every year and my friends and I definitely took advantage of all the tourist hotspots. On our last night there we decided to go have dinner by the Eiffel tower so that we could see the pretty lights. Afterward, we sat behind the Eiffel tower on some grass to relax for a while and as soon as we did these two guys approached us with a bottle of wine and at first, we thought that they were trying to sell it to us since there were many street vendors selling alcohol. We were wrong, these two guys genuinely wanted to sit with us and share a bottle of wine. It took a while for us to get comfortable because we didn’t know what their intentions were but as soon as we started talking with them we were able to enjoy a good conversation about sharing culture. Our new friends were shocked to discover that in the United States we are not used to sharing our food with strangers especially in a public setting. It is not “normal” for one to approach a group of people and share food with them without expecting something in return. One of the guys even said that the difference in our sharing culture deterred him from wanting to visit the U.S because he loves being able to meet new people.

I never thought about the culture of sharing until I traveled abroad because in the U.S everyone can be selfish with their belongings. We reserve our sharing to family and friends and usually, we tend to expect something back from this interaction. Here in Spain and in France sharing seems to be very big especially around food. In Spain, tapas are small appetizers that people tend to share with a group of friends and no one ever really orders a plate for themselves. In France, I was able to share a bottle of wine with two strangers without them expecting anything in return. I have never had a picnic in the U.S but so far I have had three in the past four months. This experience of sharing has really helped me realize how selfish we can be as Americans, we work hard for our belongings and sometimes I think that we get caught up in our own social bubbles and don’t attempt to branch out. Sharing contributes to the building of relationships, to new conversations, and to new and unexpected friends.