Rose-colored glasses

It is incredible what a little bit of sunshine can do to turn my mood around. I woke up this morning, after a short night due to celebrating my friend Leslie's 21st birthday properly last night, and was just dreading class.  Then, I left my baguette in the toaster unattended, and walked back into a kitchen full of smoke.  Then, I shivered through breakfast, since I had to open all the windows to clear it out, and it's still in the 40s here. All of this made me leave late to catch the metro, which meant I had to practically run all the way to class. Then, after class, I waited in line for 25 minutes for a panini, all the while watching the cashier and one customer scream at each other in French about who-knows-what.
All of these things combined on a gray, normal day in Paris would have put me in a terrible mood.
However, today is gorgeous and sunny, and I haven't been able to keep a smile off my face for a majority of the day. I actually laughed out loud at myself for burning the bread-thank goodness my host family wasn't around to make fun of me for being such a terrible cook! And the scene at the panini stand was actually pretty comical-especially when the cashier called the two cooks out from the back as reinforcements and they all were waving their arms and yelling in French and their faces just kept getting redder and redder.

 After class, I took myself on a walk around St. Michel, which is quickly becoming my favorite part of the city.  I stopped in at a cathedral I've been dying to see, and then sat in a little Salon du The (Tea Salon) and read for about an hour.  Then, with only a minimal amount of searching, I managed to find new earbuds for  3 euro-an unheard-of deal in the city where you can't get lunch for under 5.

A few shots of the cathedral (I forget the name, I think St. Jaques?) and the St Michel Fountain

On top of all this loveliness, I am heading to Provence tomorrow, which not only means I get to legally skip class for a day, but I get to see one of France's most famous regions firsthand.  All in all, I would say it's been a pretty good day. Roll Tide.