Turning 21!

Yesterday was a BIG day. Yes, I turned 21. I have officially entered the adult world, at least in my opinion. In celebration of my big day, I decided to skip two classes and go pick up myresidence permit with my friend Alison. I became an official resident of Istanbul and turned 21 on the same day. Like I said, it was a BIG day. BIG.

So, as you might imagine, picking up a residence permit is not the most fun way of celebrating a birthday. But it was sandwiched in between a quick shopping excursion to Taksim, where I picked up a killer jean jacket, and a slightly longer exploration of the Grand Bazaar. We weren't there very long, because if you really want to see it you have to devote at least a few hours to looking around. It is absolutely enormous, and is probably the biggest tourist trap in the whole city. So all in all, it was not such a bad day. I came back from the day out to take a quickshower, throw on my dress, and pop a bottle of champagne (which, by the way, is LEGAL for me) with some friends that came over.

We then made a quick trip down to Bebek, the beautiful coastal area with the Starbucksfeatured a couple of posts ago. There we each had an Efes, the popular Turkish beer, on a rooftop bar overlooking the Bosphorus. Because we areresponsible students, we did not stay out very late. We were all heading home by midnight! This is not typical for 21st birthdays, but I was perfectly fine with a relaxed evening. I am going to AMSTERDAM this weekend to meet three of my friends for a real celebration!You can expect to hear more about that earlynext week. Until then, I leave you with some pictures of the minor shenanigans that occurred last night.

P.S. There is a Dominoes Pizza in Bebek.