My 21st Birthday

Everyone makes their 21st birthday the most magical thing in the world especially in America. We are officially labeled as an adult. We get to legally drink and buy alcohol. People will literally throw parties, go to clubs, or go to the bar to celebrate their 21st birthday. And I am thankful I did not do that.

With the study abroad program I am in, we have the opportunity to travel and be in Paris for 5 days. They haven’t done the trip the past couple of years due to a global pandemic. But luckily, this year they started it up again. My program was broken up into groups, the design group and business group. One for the fashion design students in the program and the other for the fashion business students. The design group went first and the business group (which I was in) went second. We could of gone June 22nd through the 26th or June 29th through July 3rd. My birthday was on June 23rd, so I was hoping to celebrate my birthday in Paris. But sadly, the design group went to Paris first, so I was celebrating my birthday in London. But just celebrating my birthday anywhere outside of America was a win for me.

What did I do on my birthday?

I haven’t had a birthday by myself in 20 years. I have a twin sister, we share a birthday with our cousin, and my mom loves to do things together as a family to celebrate birthdays. So for one time, I wanted to experience celebrating by myself.

So I woke up semi early to go eat breakfast by myself and at a restaurant I have never been before. And it was an experience, that I truly 100% enjoyed even though it was nerve wracking being by myself. I ate an amazing Strawberry and Nutella waffle at a restaurant I’ll talk about in my next post about FOOD. It was so calming and relaxing to do something for myself even though I missed having my twin sister around.

My birthday present to myself this year was to buy myself a Marc Jacobs bag. I loved what they have been doing with their latest collections and especially with their monogram collection. And I been wanting a bag for the longest time, so what better time to get one is while in London. So I went searching to find a Marc Jacobs’ store. And that is what I did for the remainder of my birthday. I walked to Harrods because I saw on Google that Marc Jacobs’ was in there. Shouldn’t have listened to Google because they weren’t BUT if I didn’t go I wouldn’t have gone through what I experienced there.

I met up with my friend, Maggie, and searched long and hard for a Marc Jacobs section, got lost through Harrods, but we were having a good time. We decided not to let the day go to waste because I couldn’t get the bag that we should go to Tiffany Blue Box Cafe to be fancy for one day.

It was an amazing an experience. Never had finger food before so, it was good to try something different. My favorite thing was the desserts! They were amazing! I would literally only come back for the desserts if I could.

But the most shocking thing about the experience was seeing a celebrity on my birthday! My birthday was on a Thursday, so you would think nothing extraordinary would happen. And yet, I hear my friend say, “Kiah don’t look now, but someone who looks EXACTLY like Debby Ryan is coming in.” When I tell you I never turned my head so fast to look. It was EXACTLY Debby Ryan. She was eating lunch with her mom at Tiffany Blue Box cafe on my birthday. We did not get a picture with her because it did not seem right to ruin the time with her mom but my friend did get this great picture of her behind me. If I did not show up at Harrods to look for this bag I could never say I saw a celebrity on my birthday.

To end the day, we visited Buckingham Palace. And that is how I spent my 21st birthday. When I talk about my Paris trip, I’ll go into further detail about the experience I had for the remainder of my birthday month and how I finally got my birthday present.

A Message from the Office of Global Engagement:

The safety and security of Drexel students is a priority for the University. As part of the efforts to support Drexel students that are studying abroad during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Global Engagement has conducted a rigorous review of programming and provided additional support to participating students with customized pre-departure orientations and regular check-ins during the required self-isolation period and the term.