Rain

When I walked out of my apartment today, the ground was wet like it rained last night, or at least like the snow had melted. I've never been so happy to say the word melt!! Especially since this weekend was strangely dusty (my boots are covered, and even the snow wasn't even grey/sludgey it was this gritty dust color) everything seemed so clean and new even though it's still grey skies.

When the streets are clean in Paris, it's a big deal. For some reason, no one cleans up after their dogs here; my class asked my French professor about it on the first week of school, and I'm pretty sure he said something like "It's like Italy sometimes, people don't care about rules." And it's true--red lights are hardly even a suggestion here. Every morning on our walk to school, my roommate and I are constantly telling each other to watch where we walk, usually in time to avoid disaster but sometimes an unfortunate second too late (for me, at least). The snow, though, was funnier: Last week, also on a morning walk to school, I saw a group of kids coming towards me, and it was like a movie. I saw the dog poop. I saw a girl, maybe 7 years old, laughing, oblivious of what was inevitably going to happen. I saw her pink shoes, aiming directly towards their target. But as she approached and stepped right on the pile, nothing happened. She kept laughing and walking, and even weirder, the poop kept the same...shape. No footprint or horrible squelch noise or anything. And then I realized: IT HAD FROZEN SOLID TO THE SIDEWALK.

So, I am happy for rain.