Day 8
In anticipation of the first day of class (Chemistry 102) of course I didn’t get much sleep – but rolled out of bed at 6:30 AM to get ready to meet the students at Hotel Mediterraneo at 9:00 AM (where they are staying and where we held the first day of class since tomorrow – Monday – is Epiphany and all Florence buildings are closed, including FUA). We discussed a bit of science in the Renaissance era, then quickly advanced to modern chemistry. We talked extensively about (and worked problems on) the scientific method, matter, pure substances, mixtures, and carbohydrates over the course of about 2 hours. We wrapped up lecture/discussion around 11:20 AM then made ice cream! Each group of 4-5 students made 2 batches – one using simply ice as the cooling agent and one using an ice/salt mixture – which yielded ice cream in about 15 minutes! One group had several vegetarians/lactose intolerant students so I brought in almond milk and they successfully made almond milk ice cream too. We all enjoyed tasting our work! Of course, I was so wrapped up in talking with students during the activity that I forgot to take pictures! Need to work on that. For photos today, you have the massive Nespresso (coffee) machine in the Hotel Mediterraneo near today’s classroom (standing at least 6 feet tall); Brian’s Napoli pizza for lunch; the Palazzo Vecchio during this gorgeous day, and a picture of the side of Basilica di San Lorenzo (the largest church in Florence and burial place of many of the Medici family (a wealthy and influential family in Florence since the 13th century).