flashback + recently.

Hello 2013! 

more like...it's already February, hello?!

Soooooo let's catch up from Thanksgiving. Can you believe all the way back to November...CRAZY.

Back to my time in London: 

I went to Harry Potter Studios, it was magical.

{butterbeer + friends}

Stayed with my British Family the Haffendens, who live in East Grinstead, over Thanksgiving break, it was great fun to be with in a normal family setting again. We went to Brighton, a town by the sea. Unfortunately it was rainy so it was not much fun walking around in the rain but great to see other parts of England. 

{sad little people enduring the rain}

After Thanksgiving we went to Hampton Court where Henry VIII lived with his many different wives. There was one point in the tour where a small child was whispering "divorced, beheaded, died. divorced, behead, survived." Creepiest thing of my life.

{top left: dining like a king // bottom left: door in Hampton Court // top right:just have a river in the back // bottom right: front of Hampton Court}

On the 28th we went to have a guided tour of Westminster Abbey. It was AMAZING!!! I really enjoyed my time there, it was wonderful to see where the Queen had her corination 60 years ago, and to see where Will and Kate were married just a year before, that I woke up at 3:30 am to watch the Royal nuptials. 

On the 30th we went to Bath, it was our Jane Austen day. Definitely not obsessed like other girls in our group. But I do have to say I loved Bath, it was a neat town that I wouldn't mind staying there. We went to a fashion museum that had some really cool clothes by prestigious designers. Next we went to the Roman Baths, filled with the mineral water, Roman sculptures and architectures. And drank some nasty mineral water, tasted like iron, and blood. Grossest think I ever drank.

After we were able to walk around the town, as usual Ellen and I ventured off on our own. We went to the Christmas market that was filled with little booths, filled with great knick knacks I wish I could have gotten. We at the Pig and Fiddle and had my usual at pubs... Fish and chips.

Fast-forward to December.

It was two weeks before I headed back to the US of A, (Cue the cheesy) and I was depressingly sad I had to leave such a wonderful city that has won over my heart. But as all good things start they must come to an end. 

1st of December was my usual routine of going to Portobello Road for the weekly Saturday Market. After I met up with my British friends the Haffendens (Chloe and Shaun) to go the Arsenal Football match against Swansea. This was a dream come true to go to a Premier League Football Match. There were THOUSANDS of people there supporting their teams. Such a great atmosphere...at first. Sadly Arsenal lost and my friends were not happy, not happy at all. Plus before the match Goons (Arsenal Fans) were having a strike against the board or something like that. I don't think I have heard that many obscene words in my life, very eye opening. But I had to laugh because they just sounded funny saying them. 

{one of my favorite cars: mini cooper from 1955}

{Arsenal//Emirate Stadium}

Next we had a tour of St. Paul's Cathedral. 

tuppence a bag anyone? 

This was very interesting tour to see the history of it because it was built three different times. It was neat because we were able to go to the top of the dome, that was quite a hike up there. Before there is a point in the dome where it was called the "Whispering Gallery" where you talk towards a certain way and someone on the other side can hear you. We had a worker there show us how it works with one of the girls, Jess. It was hilarious to see her turn around and not know where the voice was coming from. PS we saw some places where they filmed HP.

{St.Paul's Cathedral}

{panoramic of London from St. Paul's}

{ellen + lauren}

On December 6th I made my way to Greenwich to go to the O2 of London to see this lady.

 It was AMAZING! Florence is absolutely wonderful live! Sure I didn't know some songs, but the last part of the concert was the BEST! Lets just say I was on a high after that. I went with my good buds Sam and Alicia.

{Sam, Lauren + Alicia}
Don't mind our paleness.

 Later that week we had a day trip to Oxford. We had a tour of Oxford University and later got to walk around the town. We talked to a local in a fudge shop...he was funny. New word he wanted be to use was bangin...haha gotten incorporate that British lingo into my daily use. We saw a lot more Harry Potter film spots, like the first movie where the first years come up the stairs to go to the Great Hall to be sorted. In the fourth movie where Malfoy gets turned into a ferret by Mad Eye to name a few. Before that we went to Blenheim Palace, where Winston Church lived as a child and I think later on in his life, don't quote me on that. It was by far one of the prettiest Palaces we have been to over the past few months. On our way to Blenheim we were going to see White Horse Hill...it was a bust. The only way you could see it was if you were in the sky. We trekked through sheep droppings, practically herding the sheep to see this White Horse. 

{my new sheep friends}

{Blenheim Palace}

{minted car I wanted that was in Oxford}

We had one week left and the first half of it was spend studying our brains out for our finals. Thankful I passed all my classes with flying colors. All As, probably the only time I will every have a 4.0 gpa. The last few days I spent my time exploring London. On my last full day in London I started out my going to see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. Let me just say it was FA-REEZZZZZING! I swear that my fingers were frozen by the time it finally started. Katie and I were there to get good spots at the gate to see everything, but that all changed when an elderly man came up to us and said that someone important was leaving the palace soon, most likely the Queen. I was so excited to see some type of royalty while I was in London and that dream was about to come true. 

{Queen Elizabeth + Duke of Edinburgh}

After I went to meet up with Ellen at the National Gallery to get a painting printed on canvas. We went and ate at our favourite sushi place...itsu!

{Painting of Westminster by Claude Monet}

We then made our way to Westminster Bridge to go onto the London Eye with Bart and TC. We were able to go twice with our tickets because we got the Day and Night Experience. We went around sunset which was about 3:00 pm. It was stunning to see all of London and see all the place I have come to know and love. In between the two times I went to the Churchill War Rooms. Again it is so neat that England has so much history to learn about. 

{ellen, bart, tc}

It was a great way to end my stay in London. I will be back soon old friend.

NYE

I spent new years eve with my nephews. 

{william + james}

I'm back at BYU just going to school and work just doing the same old same old.

At the beginning of February I went to see Ellie Goulding with Ellen. It was Ah-mazing! Some crazy lady (don't know if was drunk or not) was all up on me even before ellie was out, so that made it interesting before the concert.

{doin her thang}

Now I am waiting for more adventures to come my way, especially anything that has to do with Europe. Don't worry, I think I have planned like five trips...just a little anxious? No, just miss exploring new places. 

2012 treated me well and hope 2013 has more to come.

ps. I gave in and got a twitter. follow me if ya want.

@laurenchunghoon

thanksgiving.

Here in London they don't celebrate a lot of holidays like they do in America. 

For example: 

Martin Luther King Jr Day

 President's Day

Halloween

Thanksgiving

What do you get when you have about 30 Americans and a gourmet kitchen? 

A: A day filled with laughs, thanks and a delicious dinner.

How cool are those pilgrim hats? And yes we did wear them with pride. The Howards were so kind to put everything together and made this day so much more fun than just a normal day at the centre. I hope you all enjoyed your time and didn't go too crazy at Black Friday. 

cheers

lauren.

the lake district + edinburgh + york.

This week we were able to travel to the Lake District, Edinburgh and York. These places are all so beautiful and great. We first went to Preston where the Preston Temple and MTC were, we were only there for a little break so I couldn't much pictures when I was worried about my bladder exploding (I have a great story about that when I went to a football match last week on Saturday...we'll save that for another post). We also had a tour of Preston and got to see where all the first missionaries can when they were called to the British Isles Mission. President Hinckley served there, so we were able to see where he lived and stayed while serving the Lord.

{no.15}

After Preston we made our way to Ambleside where William Wordsworth was inspired for most of his life's work he did at the Dove Cottage in Grasmere which was only a tenth of his life. We stayed in wonderful Bed & Breakfasts, they were so cute and the owners were lovely. We went on a gorgeous hike around the area, had a workshop about letters Wordsworth wrote and ate dinner at the Dove Cottage. I really did love Ambleside and hope to go back soon, the town was quaint with its tiny roads and alleyways. 

On the way to Edinburgh we saw some more rocks. Some rock circle and Hadrian's wall. Yet again when we visit rocks it seems to be raining a lot.

{mini Stone Henge}

Next up was Edinburgh, Scotland. It was a great place, we were in the city by the Edinburgh Castle in sketchy hostel in a seriously creepy street called Cow Gate. When we got there we had to navigate the city which being in a new city it's hard, but on top of that it was night time (5.30ish) so that just added more difficulty to journey for food. We found this delicious italian place that just opened, so we got the food for super cheap. The next day we had a tour by a past study abroad student who is living in Edinburgh working on his masters degree. We saw THE Elephant House where JK Rowling first started writing Harry Potter. Right next to it was the school that inspired Hogwarts. Also there was a church/graveyard down the street that sparked an idea for a main character in the book...Thomas Riddle. Oh and Greyfriars Bobby was buried there too. It was a good start to the day when filled with Harry Potter.

We finished by the Edinburgh Castle, which was our next destination. We spend a good two hours there. It's great to hear the people's scottish accents, in the words of an 8 year old girl, "it's sew cute, I loove it." (spelled how they would say it.) I saw a preview of some crown jewels, nothing compares to the crown jewels like at the Tower of London. 

{View of Edinburgh}

We saw William Wallace, of course it was a photo op, with swords.

{William Wallace}

After that it was a blur because we walked that city FOEVER. Around and around walking the same streets just going in circles, still not sure how that worked out.  I made my way back to the Elephant House to have some cake and leave my mark. 

Next was York. We went to York Minster to Evensong, which was fun to experience a change of scenery. There was a neat street called The Shambles, it reminded me of Diagon Alley. 

On our last day we went to the Bronte's Parsonage, where Charlotte wrote Jane Eyre, which I had the lovely opportunity to read...it was not my favorite. 

After we went to a old cotton mill, which was really neat because I studied the process of making cotton into fabric so it was great to understand it.

It was an overall great week in the Lake District.

More adventures to come.

cheers,

Lauren