Tongues, Picasso, and Beer

So it turns out the castle is a private residence... Laaaaame, but would be cool if it were my private residence... hmm...

Also, today in class Maria discussed the importance of pronunciation at the advanced level to appear less "foreign." We had quite a bit of fun realizing the different vowel sounds our respective tongues are naturally programmed to say, while others we are hard-wired to reject. We did a few exercises. The best was hearing the English students try to pronounce the Spanish "u" and how they would get so nervous for it because their mouths are simply not programmed for that sound.

This afternoon we went to the Museo de Bellas Artes here in Oviedo with our art history professor, whom I love. I had never been to the art museum here before, but apparently we have 12 El Greco's, two Goya, one Dali, and even a Picasso! We are studying Picasso and Dali in art history this week so it was very fun to see them and have her explain it at the same time. I am glad I am taking this class before going to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona, because I saw tons of Goyas and Velazques' in the Prado and tons of El Greco's in Toledo, and I in retrospect there was so much I completely missed. Afterwards, she took us for some delicious truffle ice cream!

Tonight we went to The Asturianu again (favorite Oviedo bar) because Jonathon was holding a trivia night. At first there were nine of us in total, so we split into three times of three and, as the only people in the bar, we felt pretty confident that we would win. However, the Spanish shuffled in about 30 minutes late (so typical), and took third and first prize: a fishbowl of beer and a fish-tank of beer. I didn't feel too bad about it because the questions featured Spanish Olympics and Spanish pop music... not my specialty. Luckily for us, the winners didn't want their whale-tank of beer, so they gave it to us. We passed it around in a circle and somehow managed to finish the whole thing.

I am excited for the rest of the week: Tomorrow we are hiking up to a cathedral and cross on a hill right outside of Oviedo; Thursday a friend and I are finding the lighthouse in Gijon; Friday is MTV in Gijon, which should be a spectacle if nothing else; Saturday is our excursion to Cantabria and Eastern Asturias; and Sunday is (weather-permitting) the kayaking trip. Now please appreciate the largest beer ever!