Read the following text and answer the question.

It was Katia’s 20^th birthday and she was looking forward to seeing her friends. They were meeting at Sakura Blossoms, her favorite Japanese restaurant for a special birthday dinner. Katia was excited and got the restaurant at exactly 7 o’clock, the time they had arranged to meet. She looked around for a familiar face, but no one had arrived yet. So, she decided to wait outside and stood patiently in the warm evening sunshine.

The restaurant quickly filled up with customers, but none of them were Katia’s friends. “Where are they?” she thought. At half past seven she was still waiting, so she called her best friend Isa. “Why doesn’t she answer her phone?” Katia asked herself. Then she called Jofa, Ali, and Yoko, but they didn’t answer either. “What’s going on?” she wondered.

At 8 o’clock Katia went home. Her friends had forgotten her birthday and she felt lonely and miserable. She opened the front door and walked into the dark house. The living room door was closed. “How strange,” she thought because she always left it open. Nervously, she opened the door. Suddenly, the lights went on and all her friends jumped up and shouted “Surprise!” So, they hadn’t forgotten and, in the end, it was the best birthday ever.

The word "looking forward" in the first paragraph has closest meaning to ….