Starting around 9 p.m. Wednesday night, a thin blanket of snow dusted Boston Common, prompting Emerson students to venture outside and experience the first real snow of the season.

Bundled up in winter coats, beanies, and scarves, students flocked to the streets—many playing songs such as “The Christmas Song” and “Jingle Bell Rock” aloud on their cellphones. Boston residents and Emerson students—including first-years Ellie McCabe and Emma Paiva—took selfies with snow-covered grass in the background.

According to National Weather Service Boston, the city will see about 0.7 inches of snow accumulate through Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. Snow is expected to stop falling around 4 a.m. Thursday morning.

“Emma showed up at our door dressed up in her snow stuff and was like, ‘We’re going out to see the snow,’” said McCabe, a writing, literature and publishing major. “I was a little reluctant because I was already in my bed, but here we are.”

Although Paiva, a business of creative enterprises major, is from Connecticut, where it frequently snows, she said she appreciated seeing it snow in Boston.

“It’s exciting,” Paiva said. “Everything’s really pretty here. Prettier than Connecticut.”

For some first-year students like Avah Reed and Luis Salazar, Wednesday night marked their first time living in a location where it snows. They appreciated the spectacle.

“This is my first time seeing snowfall because I’m from Florida,” Reed said. “Everyone’s saying that it’s bad snow, but I think it’s really cool.”

“I’m from Miami,” Salazar said. “I’ve seen snow before, but it’s nice to finally live somewhere where it snows.”

First-year visual and media arts major Eitan Ehrlich was in an EIV screenwriting workshop when he looked out the window and noticed the exciting new weather.

“I was looking at the Guy Fieri sign…and I saw that there was snow in front of it,” Ehrlich said. “I couldn’t focus for the rest of the workshop because I wanted to go into the snow.”

Lennon Mapes, also a first-year visual and media arts major, was in the Little Building when he realized it was snowing outside.

“I was making music with my friends,” Mapes said. “We were just looking out the window for a while. Then at some point, we decided to stop making music and just go outside and that’s when [Ehrlich] contacted me.”

Ehrlich and Mapes said they met up with each other in the lobby of the Little Building after an excited text exchange. Although Ehrlich is from Connecticut and Mapes is from Vermont, two snowy states in the wintertime, they were both enthralled by the first snowfall of the season.

“We get a lot of snow,” Mapes said. “So it’s pretty usual. But the first one of the season is always so special.”

For many, the snowfall provoked a sense of childlike wonder.

“It’s kind of nostalgic,” Kahlil Leneus, a first-year musical theater major from California, said. “I lived in China for seven months when I was in the third grade, so seeing it again is bringing back old memories.”

Although most students are in the midst of finals, the snow proved to be a good excuse for Emersonians to take a break from studying and take a walk outside. 

“It’s really beautiful to have the first snowfall,” first-year visual and media arts major Caden Lisa said. “Especially since it’s on the earlier side of December. I think it’s really nice.”