New semester

Yesterday the exam period ended at the Salesian Pontifical University, and the good news is that I finished grading all the reports and examinations ten minutes ago. I'll submit my grades to the registrar's office tomorrow, God willing.

There was no semester break this year at the UPS, and most of the students and professors are feeling it! Was this a glitch in the scheduling? In any case, today was the first day of lessons in the new semester.

As far as first days go, there was a great deal of confusion this morning because there are some overlaps in the timetable and a few classrooms are being renovated. Instead of waiting until summer, the financial administrator of the theology department, José Luis Moral, decided to do this work in January while there is money in the account. Last year other departments overspent and so the work that had been planned during the summer months had to be suspended. I guess it is okay to inconvenience students rather than wait to have the shortfall block work for another year. Yet, to be very frank, I did not think the classrooms in question really needed any work.

This semester it was planned that I share my office with another teacher. His name is Aimable Musoni, and he is a young and gentle professor from Rwanda who has taken over the chair of Ecumenical Studies. However, as I was only one of two professors who have used our offices every day during the first semester, the Dean (Giorgio Zevini) has put off the twinning, and will look for other accommodations for the young Prof. Musoni. But it is anyone's guess when that will be settled, because the Dean is currently in Brazil.