Happiness is a warm run

There's an old saying, "When it rains, it pours." I think possibly the inverse might also be true.

Like, "When it's wonderful, it's more wonderful."

"When it's a horse, it's a unicorn."

"When it's a hot dog, it's not a hot dog."

"When it's a flower, it's a flower battle."

This brings me to my next point. Yesterday I decided I really wanted to go to the Flower parade downtown, and since I didn't have class I planned on meeting my friend from Arizona and her two sons for the festivities. (Unfortunately, my phone didn't remember her number, and we never got together.)

But, have no fear! It is I, Coincidence! And my trusty sidekick, Fate-boy! Here to save the day!

So after a series of random choices, I ended up at a bus stop down close to the Promenade. When the bus arrived, I hopped on, and who did I see but my Canadians fleeing a stinker from the front of the bus!

So I decided to join them to the parade!

Now the official name of this parade is "Bataille de Fleurs" or "Flower Battle." I guess I never really thought anything of it.

Friends, the Flower Battle is a merciless venture.

Every float that passed by would throw these tiny yellow flowers into the crowd.

Now, there are two types of people in this world. People who talk about flower battles, and people who take flowers from small children.

And, friends, if you thought it was war in the beginning, you should have seen the crowd when they started throwing flowers taken from the float displays (roses and tulips and lilies oh my and other flowers that I can't name because my flower knowledge is less that lacking).

Unfortunately, where we were standing, the sun was RIGHT in our eyes, and it was so bright, you just had to stick your hands up and hope a flower fell gently into them. (I got hit in the head with more carnation bulbs than I care to acknowledge.)

Suffice it to say, picture-taking was the struggle of my life. Since we couldn't see shapes all the time, it was hard to aim the camera. 

These are probably for the Olym--GOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

These next photos are courtesy of Kendra.

This is me. This is my life.

We had a blast though. And we got SUPER into it. (I even grabbed a flower out of the air over a small child. I felt really bad, so I tried to give it to him. Turns out little boys don't really like flowers. They like catching things.)

Afterward we promenaded all the way back to their flat. (I unknowingly missed my stop, so I just kept on with them.)

I'm gonna try and press some of my flowers. Nikita showed me how. We'll see what happens . . .

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So what other happy stuff has happened?

Oh! So apparently my blog is featured on the UT Chancellor's Honors website! For my academic year abroad! ON THE FRONT PAGE NO LESS!

Molly Kessler is very happy. Molly Kessler "and friend" are very happy.

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On Tuesday morning, I made a mistake. I went to class an hour and a half early. And, you know what? Apparently there's another class right before mine. Same room. Same professor. Same content. It took me 40 minutes to realize I wasn't supposed to be there.

Once I realized that all my friends weren't just "absent," I turned to the girl next to me and whispered, "I just realized I'm not supposed to be here."

"What are you talking about?"

"This! This isn't my class! I'm in the next one!"

"Wait did she call your name on the roll?"

"No! I remember thinking it was weird!"

But it was too late to back out. So I sat through til the end. But I didn't want to be counted absent in my class, so I stayed for that too. (And let's be real, I didn't really understand most of the first lesson. It was good to hear it twice. Redundant but good.)

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Two nights ago, me and the girls got together for a crèpe soirée! It was delicious. It was cultured. It was French. And it was filling.

5 crèpes later, we all returned to our domiciles. Full and happy.

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So I'm leaving tomorrow evening to go to Madrid! And I couldn't be more excited. Which means, I won't be able to update my blog. (Unless our hostels have computers. But even then I'll probably be too busy learning Spanish and butchering Portuguese.) But I will return, mes petits chous. With many many pictures I'm sure.

So have a happy leap year, and keep up those Lent resolutions! Or New Years resolutions, if you're still doing that.

Amitiés :)