A Weekend of Celebration

I am one of the lucky few who is able to celebrate their birthday abroad. Since my birthday was on Saturday, the entire weekend ended up being a celebration! It started Friday Evening. After attending a pre departure meeting for my Istanbul trip (which I CANNOT wait for!!), Janey, Mackenzie, Alex, Max and I all went to the Thames River and took a trip on the London Eye. We had tickets for 7:30 - a perfect time, since the sun had just set and the entire city was lit up. 

The London Eye is very similar to a ferris wheel. The entire ride is about 30 minutes spent of the entire group taking photographs and looking at spectacular views of the city! 

Once we got back from the London Eye, the entire flat celebrated my 12:01! I popped my first champagne bottle (which I found out is a lot harder than it looks), while party poppers of confetti exploded all over me. It was a great way to start my birthday off right.  Mackenzie and Janey knew I was a little sad that I wasn't going to see my parents on my birthday, so they made every effort to make my birthday even more special.  That morning, I woke up to balloons and decorations all around our flat.  In the afternoon, Janey and I went shopping and saw the musical Legally Blonde. The production was incredible, definitely one of my favorites! 

A group of girls in our flat all went out for dinner to an Italian restaurant around the corner from our flat on Gloucester St. Not only did we feel like we were in Italy inside the restaurant, but our meals tasted phenomenal. I know I speak for everyone when I say we would all go back there in a heartbeat! After dinner we all got very dressed up for a night on the town - as you can see in the pictures above. I am so glad that I was able to spend my twentieth birthday in London and could not have asked for a better day with my friends!