La terre

Usually spring and summer bring about nice nature smells (i.e. flowers, sap, cut grass, etc...)

In France there's a distinct scent in nature, and it actually varies a lot from one region to the next (in Provence it smells like lavender and rosemary...take me back please...). The mountain air in Grenoble just smells clean and fresh, and overall pleasant (sometimes it smells like violets and that's about as pleasant as it gets people).

In the Pacific Northwest of the United States there is also a distinct nature smell. Pines. Pine sap. Rain. Priuses (Prii?).Pines. Oh wait...
It never gets old to me because it always smells nice and everything stays green and lively. I wish I could say the same thing about the next and most recent place I have dwelt in.

Utah. So Utah is great for a lot of reasons, but lately I've been noticing some of the not-so-great things. Every time I wanna breathe deeply and smell what I think should be the pleasant smells of a spring awakening (no connection to the raunchy musical), there's this awful stench of mildew, must and DEATH that hits my olfactory senses with a bludgeoning force. I gag a little. I probably make a weird face too.
Go away nasty earth smell, no one likes you!!!

I've been pondering on why this is the case, and I've come to a few possible conclusions:

1. Having the earth be buried under snow for 4 months gives it a nasty smell
2. Having the earth be under a layer of mulch THEN have snow cover that gives it a nasty smell
3. The grounds crew at BYU replace the dirt too often and it never gets to settle into a nice smell (far fetched and least likely conclusion)
4. Utah earth just sucks and it stinks...
4.5 The spring plants haven't actually started growing yet, everything is still kinda dead and brown (pictured below)

5. Maybe there's something gross perpetually trapped in my nose and I'll never be able to smell anything pleasant in nature ever again (most depressing conclusion)

Anyways. For the few people who read this, you got the privilege to smell my life for a moment...lucky you!