The Salesian Pontifical University dons a winter coat.
When the flakes got big, many could not resist going out to take a photo or two. Here I am with César from Venezuela. He is one of my students.
Argentine Mario Llanos, professor of education, was more snow covered than this photo indicates.
Snow is so rare in Rome that for many of our students this was the first snowfall they had ever seen.
Even was we posed for photos, I noticed that the garden at the entry of the campus was starting to get a thin white layer of snow. The flakes were bigger and a slight breeze picked up.
From the front of the university I could see through the windows and noticed that the snow was beginning to cover the internal courtyards and roadways of the campus.
The central courtyard covered with snow. In my own student days at the UPS, this courtyard was usually vacant, and in the afternoons many of the students and professors used to walk up and down, catching up on news and getting some exercise. Nowadays it has become a parking lot and remains full most of the day until late at night. But today is the last day of classes before the Christmas break, so many students were already gone by mid morning. That is a lucky thing. I can just imagine the skidding if they all tried to leave in the sudden snowfall.
Franciscan Sisters from Mexico were excited to see the snow and posed for a photo. Of course, before the shutter clicked, Salesian Benny Joseph from Hyderabad ran in to add his support as back-up.
Soon enough, the entrance to the university library began to cover with snow.
The central tower of the University under the white skies and snow clouds.
