BU Abroad: Where Classical Music Thrives

Laura Carpenter (CFA’10) finds London grooves

By Devin Hahn

In the video above, visit London with Laura Carpenter (CFA’10), a classical trumpet player who also joined pub musicians.

“I actually cried when the plane touched down,” Laura Carpenter says about returning to the States after a semester at the Royal College of Music in London. “I wanted to stay in England forever.”

Carpenter (CFA’10), a classical trumpet player and musicology student, was in England for about four months last fall. “The nonmusicians I made friends with were almost equally knowledgeable and passionate about the music I played as I was,” she says. “Classical music seemed more important as a respected cultural phenomenon than it is in America.”

This summer, Carpenter made her way back across the pond to attend an orchestral course called — she kids you not — the Week of Beer and Music, which gave her the opportunity to travel to different parts of England and play in concerts with other young musicians. The event is sponsored by the Uley Brewery, one explanation for the name. “But really,” she says, “it was because of all the drinking.”

Before her junior semester abroad, Carpenter hadn’t considered living outside the United States. Now, she says, “I would return to the Royal College of Music in a second for my grad work.”

But that’s looking ahead. She has another year to go at BU, planning to complete her undergraduate studies — and spread the gospel of studying abroad. “I’ve been asked to speak to incoming students because of my fervor for it,” she says.

Devin Hahn can be reached at dhahn@bu.edu.

Next week, another foreign visit. Read more about BU Abroad.

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