For the record

Author: Melissa Marshall

A fan from Córdoba, a lamp from Egypt, a wine bottle from France, a scarf from Ecuador, a rug from Sweden - while first-years scramble to assemble rooms as well-rounded as their applications, mine glows as diverse and glossy as a Middlebury pamphlet. Unfortunately, just as I do not have memories of smiling interracial groups lounging in the perpetual sunshine, I also have no memories of these exotic locales - minus my carpet hunt in a Conshohocken Ikea. No, I am a stay behind, a senior who did not go abroad. Though privy to jealousy-inspiring interior designings, stay behinds are also subjected to epicly-portioned narratives of hypothermia in Edinburgh and street-sign swiping shenanigans in Alexandria while my most interesting tale involves the discovery of an abandoned table on Battell Beach. And since one's room is such a reflection of one's self, I figured that my music collection should play vicariously and give the impression of worldliness as well. I mean, my iPod would keep me company in lieu of a collected boy on walks back to Starr on Saturday nights so I am sure that it is up to the task of increasing my pretension level. So, whether you are prepping to blow off the bubble for a year or would prefer confusion to the inanity of English lyrics, pin these international artists to your playlists.

Ever since reading "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and the curb stomping of the dollar by the euro, I have wanted to visit Prague. But instead of paying $721 for a ticket, I can be transported to the Czech Republic for $10.99 with the alt-art quintet Miou Miou. Framed around the girlish, barely-there vocals of Karolina Dytrtova, the Prague-based promenade poppers released their first album in the U.S. on April 29th. While she calls Prague home, Dytrotova's laces the band's sunny arrangements with French lyrics - the incomprehensibility of the music for most Americans as well as Czechs adding an ethereal quality to the already light La La Grande Finale. While occasionally Stereolab-like in their stylings, Miou Miou interweaves inventiveness through their impressive roll call of instrumentation. From the driving force of clapping in "A Lete de la Saint Martin 68" to the bongos in "Dans Le Miroir de Tes Yeux" to the sublime synthesizers in "Le Petite Punk," this freshman effort shines clean and gauzy while still straddling the prog-rock divide.

Navigating the maze of cardboard laden SUVs on Saturday, I was transported across the pond as the bass line of "Violet Hill" seemed the common conversation between vehicles. However, the Anglo-adult contemporary rock of Coldplay's newest album was heavily influenced by the Mali based band, Tinariwen. Formed in 1982 in a camp of Tuareg rebels, the quartet's French and Tamashek lyrics serve societal change and politically charged messages that translate equally as well for afternoon contemplation as they do for social gatherings. From the reflective and nostalgic guitar-picking of "Izarharh Tenere" to the persistent percussion and layered vocals of "Assouf," Tinariwen's 2007 release Aman Imam is as cohesively catchy as it is politically conscious.

While I may still snuggle up to my returned travelers in the hopes that their Steven Spielberg script worthy adventures may rub off in osmosis, the rescued coffee table turned common room centerpiece already bears the nicks and stains stating that maybe Vermont is a veritable abroad experience in itself.