Okay so I know nothing about fixing cars so I'm probably not going to explain this well enough to get some real help, but here I go
I was driving the zx a couple days ago and I shifted into 4th gear and right after I did a strong, odd smell started coming in through my vents. It might just be a coincidence that it happened after I shifted. It didn't smell like oil or like I was burning something up or anything, I've had to deal with those before. I don't know how to describe the smell, but the car kept driving fine. Nothing overheated, nothing stopped working, nothing unusual happened except for the smell. I drove it home and popped the hood and I could smell it the strongest from the passenger side near the front, what could this be?

 

Maybe you have a small rodent stuck in the radiator?

It's kinda hard to "smell" through the internet.

 

I know, I wish I knew how to describe the smell. I'm just nervous about driving it now, and its my daily driver so I need it to get to work and back. I need to figure out what it is.