Keeping it Classy

A look at two restaurants with a stylish touch in the UNYP neighborhood

By Baia Dzagnidze

This month’s column focuses on two restaurants with  elegant interiors. Located close to each other, Don Ciccio and Royali offer international cuisine, as well as some Croatian, Russian, Uzbek and Ukrainian specials on their daily menus.

Don Ciccio

• Type: Restaurant
• Address: Londýnská 29
• Open Hours: 10 a.m. –  11 p.m. daily
• Special Offers: Daily specials starting at 119 CZK, served 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
• Cuisine: International
• Price: Starters from 79 CZK, Main meals from 170 CZK
• UNYP Benefits Program Member: No
• Web page: None

Located one stop from I.P Pavlova, Ristorante Don Ciccio offers international cuisine along with special meals from Croatia such as Pljeskavica (a grilled dish made from a mix of lamb, beef, pork or veal)

Pleasant environment

The restaurant has a terrace open during the spring and summer in front of the main entrance. Inside, it divides into two parts – the left side for nonsmokers, and the right for smokers. The stylish design creates a pleasant atmosphere and a nice place to have lunch.

The weather was good on a recent visit, so my friends and I chose to sit on the terrace, where we were given menus right away. Although the restaurant was only half full, it took the waiter another 10 minutes to finally take our drink and meal orders.

Minestrone

The menu offers a big variety of international cuisine, along with many typical restaurant dishes such as Caesar salad, various Italian meals, steaks, risotto and fish. What makes Don Ciccio interesting is the daily specials offer. Every day, there are three different combinations of soup and a main course. On the day of our visit, the specials were tomato soup and Greek salad for 119 CZK; minestrone and gnocchi with spinach for 129 CZK; and lentil soup and grilled pork ribs with baked potato for 149 CZK. The prices for all of those seemed quite reasonable for two courses.

My choice was the minestrone soup and gnocchi with spinach. The soup came a bit warm with plenty of vegetables, including tomato, potato, paprika, celery, two kinds of beans, zucchini and carrot. Although the typical Italian recipe calls for thick stock, my soup was far from having any kind of denseness; instead it was very brothy, like an ordinary soup. The vegetables were diced and lightly cooked.

Gnocchi with spinach

The main dish was delivered shortly after the soup, presented in a large bowl. The gnocchi itself was well-cooked, very soft and light. It included a decent amount of spinach, also well-sautéed in a creamy white sauce. Flavors of parmesan cheese, oregano and garlic came through in the sauce without weakening the taste of the spinach. Definitely, it was the best gnocchi dish I have ever had.

Overall, the service was good, though it took a bit of time to place our order. However, the waiter was quite polite during the meal, smiling and asking if everything was fine or if we wanted something else. 

Don Ciccio is a very good lunch venue, because the daily specials offer two courses for a good price, and the meals are very well-cooked and presented. However, ordering something from the main menu can get pricey and excessive for a student budget.

Royali

• Type: Restaurant
• Address: Šafaříkova 18
• Open Hours: 9 a.m. – 11 p.m., Monday through Friday; 11 a.m. – 11 p.m. on Saturday
• Special Offers: None
• Cuisine: International
• Price: Breakfast from 69 CZK; Salads from 115 CZK; Main courses from 135 CZK
• UNYP Benefits Program Member: No
• Webpage: http://www.royali.cz/

While searching for another restaurant for this column, I came across Royali’s web page, which looked really nice. However, pictures can be deceiving!

One of the deceptive web photos

Upon arrival, my friend and I saw immediately that it was not what we expected. First, the restaurant seemed smaller than it looked in the pictures. Second, there was no one to greet us and lead us to a table; the only free one had a cigarette pack and smoked cigarettes in the ashtray. As we hesitated to sit there, somebody from another table told us that the table was free. That was the start of an unpleasant lunch experience.

After 5-10 minutes, we were finally given a menu, but the dirty ashtray remained. It took the waiter another 10 minutes to clean the table and take our order. The restaurant, if I can call it that, offers international cuisine that includes local as well as post-Soviet specials such as Ukrainian chicken Kiev, Uzbek Plov, and typical Russian soups. Overall the prices were very reasonable, though not enough to compensate for the bad service and atmosphere.

Caesar Salad

I chose a Caesar Salad for 135 CZK, which consisted of lettuce, chicken, bacon, croutons and parmesan cheese, garnished with three slices of cucumber and tomatoes. After waiting for our meal approximately another 10 minutes, the salad arrived on a big plate, missing one ingredient – bacon. Also, it had very little dressing, making half of the salad dry. The chicken was well-grilled and seasoned with salt and paper, but the croutons were too dry, as if they had been baked without oil and oregano.

From the very beginning, the service was definitely not satisfying; our waiter was disorganized and late with our orders. We left with the impression that Royali is a place for close friends who don’t care about the small details that made our lunch such an unpleasant experience. Definitely not recommended!

Rearranging Everyday Reality

Last chance to see one of the best art exhibitions in town

By Lukas Vallo

Once you open the door on the second floor of Prague Municipal Library’s City Gallery, you might think that you are in the wrong place. An old-school grocery store gives you an impression that you are suddenly 20 years back in time. It seems to be Krištof Kintera’s way of properly introducing visitors to his disoriented collection of sculptures and installations, by confusing them right at the beginning.

Kintera’s “Analysis Results” exhibition is a collection of older pieces and newer ones that have never been displayed. Odd-looking, weird, inspiring, thoughtful and full of fun are the best words to describe the exhibition. The themes of energy, consumerism and humanity are visible throughout, creating a good combination of abstract and specific artwork.

One whole floor of the Municipal Library’s historic building is devoted to exhibition, in which Kintera uses ordinary objects to express his feelings toward the world we live in. The pieces are a mix of static sculptures and moving and speaking objects, meant to express the mind of an artist while giving visitors a chance to make their own analysis and develop their own perspective on what they see.

Talking groceries

The exhibition fills 10 large rooms. Each artwork is unique and expresses different positive emotions, sometimes mixed with reactions from the visitors. While walking around the exhibits, viewers may get the impression that they are on a different planet. There are holes in the walls where sculptures of little businessmen, about one meter high, pose existential questions such as why do we live on this planet.

The first impression the visitor has when walking through an old plastic curtain is rather mixed. The background noise of a person talking about why people love each other makes you wonder where this sound is coming from. As you walk further and realize that the noise is coming from a yellow plastic bag full of groceries, you start to laugh.

Another room’s dominant artwork is a small factory puffing out smoke, accompanied by a large chair where you can sit and think about the meanings of Kintera’s artworks. The entryway to another room is partially blocked by a street lamp that was cut into two pieces and fell down, expanding to two rooms. The room where the lamp originates is equipped with rather new works by Kinteras. A devil playing drums while chipping a beer glass once in a while shows two Czech stereotypes: beer and fairy tales.

One of the most bizarre installations of the exhibit can be found in the fifth room. where a small man stands with his head towards the wall. Once you get closer, you can see a hole in front of his head, which is covered by a hood. You may be startled when the little man starts to bang his head against the wall randomly.

Taking wing in an office chair

A crow dressed in a suit sitting on a twig, talking totally out of context, introduces you to one of the last rooms. You can sit down in an office chair with wings attached to it and listen to the crow trying to figure out why it says phrases like “Google Jesus.”

For minutes and even hours after you step out from the exhibition, you can still feel the impression it made on you. The artist certainly wanted to bring attention to the modern world we live in, and how we are part of this world. The noise of some installations reminds you of a construction site in this hectic world.

Kintera doesn’t explain the meaning of his sculptures and installations, but rather gives people a chance to think about the meaning for themselves. In a YouTube video titled “Výsledky analýzy,” the artist explains the dry and boring economic concepts that he used to define the results of his lifelong analysis. “Inspirations are flowing ideas which appear in dreams, or on the metro,” he says. “Inspiration can be an old carpet. I am inspired by everything around me.”

For those already familiar with Kintera’s work, this latest exhibition is nothing shocking. However, for those who are not familiar with what this artist does, it might be an extraordinary experience.

For all viewers, the exhibition will rearrange your notions of reality. Some of the artwork will make you rethink elements of your daily life, and some of it will make you laugh. This large mix of emotions makes this exhibition a must-see cultural event.

About the Artist

Krištof Kintera is a 39-year old Czech artist who studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and later finished his studies in Amsterdam at the prestigious Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten academy. His artwork has been shown beyond the borders of his homeland, in cities such as Berlin, Rome or Paris, where he has had great success.

Analysis Results

Closes May 13

Open Monday – Sunday from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Tickets:

Regular adult: 120 CZK

Students: 60 CZK

Official exhibition website: 
http://www.ghmp.cz/cs/web/guest/vystavy/-/vystavy/vystava/30557


YouTube video in which Kintera explains his inspirations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33iGkXKOba8&feature=related

Big Score for UNYP’s Silver Blazers

The story behind this year’s success in the International Sport League

By Danijela Demarin

After winning second place in a passionate battle against the famous ADsport.cz football team in Prague’s International Sport League, the UNYP Blazers became a symbol of school spirit awakening.

In front of a large audience at Sparta Prague Hall, the Blazers managed to reach the spring 2012 finals in the world of university and company team sports in Prague, and bring long-desired fame and pride to their university. On April 18, in an exciting and tempered game that ADsport.cz won by a score of 6-4, the Blazers secured second place in the ISL, a record achievement for the team.

Team members flanked by
Daniel Ribar and Fabio Lembo

Their success did not happen overnight. It is rather a result of a long-term commitment by the players as well as their coach and manager, who kept the team together. UNYP’s population is rather small and therefore the establishment and survival of any kind of sports team is always a question. Slovak Daniel Ribar and Argentinian Fabio Lembo, UNYP alumni and former Blazers goalkeepers, finally managed to overcome that obstacle.

“I think the single biggest achievement is that a group of people formed around the idea of the Blazers,” says Ribar, current director of UNYP Athletics, a department which is still under construction.

Established in the spring of 2005 by student Daniel Conk, the Blazers football team started as the only sports team at UNYP, consisting of a group of enthusiasts playing in quite humble plain shirts. During their first season, the team did not have a coach or mentor to keep them focused and motivated. A year later, faculty member Andrew Steven Harris became the team’s first coach, but his term ended a year later when he left the country.

The current Blazers coach is Fabio Lembo, a UNYP graduate who was a Blazers goalkeeper until he injured his knee and had to end his football career. He was replaced by Daniel Ribar, a former International Economic Relations student who played until graduating in 2010, when he departed for Beirut to earn his master’s degree. The duet brought the team back to life last year after they met in one of the MBA courses and decided to give their best and bring the school spirit back.

Post-game talk with the coach

Although the Blazers generally include both basketball and football, Ribar and Lembo decided to focus on football first, in order to start humble and later attract more people. Developing a plan of gathering potential team members, they organized a tryout where candidates were required to show their skills. After assembling a team, they received financial support from UNYP of over 50,000 CZK for gym rental and fees to play in the ISL.

 

Playing for the Blazers involves more than athletic skill. Ribar also insists on character and dedication to the team. “When it comes to team membership, each player has to look at being a part of the Blazers as a privilege and serious commitment,” he says. “Also, players need to be reliable, patient and responsible toward themselves, other team members, the coach and the school.” In order to keep standards high, members are given a contract to sign in which they pledge to follow certain rules and beliefs. Each member is obligated to attend practices and workouts, as well as to maintain a certain GPA level in order to avoid suspension.

Before this year’s success, the Blazers made it four times into a game for 3^rd place. But they never managed to achieve recognition this high.

“Love for this sport is what keeps us motivated,” says Ribar. “Finding time apart from everyday work and MBA studies is hard, but it never stopped us.”

Both Lembo and Ribar work with the Blazers without any kind of compensation. Until recently, the team had the privilege to have a conditioning coach directly from Slavia Prague, Mladen Cuckovic , who had a contract with school to be slightly compensated for his willingness to help build the team. Due to his promotion to the Italian league, he is no longer with the Blazers.

David Bastidas mixes it up

David Bastidas, a UNYP student from Ecuador, was an audience favorite due to his unique “dance on the football field.” He joined the Blazers during spring 2012 and played in the championship game, where he scored the most points. “Sometimes I felt the lack of ambition and will to win within the team,” Bastidas says. “But me and other players were strongly grateful to people who came to watch and support us, which forced us to give our very best.”

Bastidas is leaving Prague in June, so he unfortunately will not be able to continue with the  Blazers. Still, he says he will remember the team for its very best effort. “There were tough and happy moments during the championship, especially because I cannot stand losing,” he says. “But if I have to summarize my opportunity to play with the team, I would say that it was so much fun!”

With fewer teams and almost no promotional banners in Sparta Hall, this year’s league was visibly affected by the financial crisis. So simply playing in the ISL was quite a success. “I am thankful to UNYP management, that they were not afraid to take a risk with me and committed resources to the project despite the times when others would have drastically cut these costs,” says Ribar.

UNYP supporters cheered until the end

Looking to the future, Ribar is planning on organizing regular tryouts for both Blazers football and basketball. And there is a possibility that a former Czech volleyball champion, Jakub Smutny, will take part in organizing a Blazers volleyball team. Still in theoretical discussion, it is hard to say if volleyball will come true without more enthusiasts such as Ribar and Lembo.

Ribar’s and Lembo’s ultimate aim is to create an Athletics Department that would enrich student life and motivate people to get involved and achieve great success, just like this year’s Blazers football team did.

“With newspapers, a dance team, sport teams and all kinds of other activities, this becomes a real university experience,” Ribar says. “Naturally, the size of our school is a factor and not everything can be done immediately. It is a marathon with UNYP students. But it is totally worth it in the end!”

Street Ball Prague Tournament

Organized by the Blazers, the 7^th annual street ball tournament in TJ Sokol Pankrác on April 29 attracted students from a number of universities in Prague. Besides enjoying street ball, spectators watched the InMotion dance team and listened to some energetic music.

Daniel Ribar presenting the teams
at the introductory ceremony

InMotion dancers watching the
ceremony and waiting for their moment

A tasty homemade snack prepared by InMotion dancers

Tournament participants celebrating a score

There are many strategies for playing street ball

InMotion Charity Party

InMotion Charity Party was a fundraising event held at PM Club on May 3. The InMotion dance team “lit up” the club with a brilliant series of performances, and Blazers players were honored and then auctioned off before everyone left to die over schoolwork and studying for finals.

The InMotion Dance team receiving applause

Even faculty members attended the event

For the Blazers, a memorable kiss from
a beauty and medals presented
by the InMotion dancers and others

The main host of the night, Fabio Lembo with his
 assistant, Srna Begović

Blazers enjoying their 15 minutes of glory

Budapest Excursion

The school year’s biggest group trip to Budapest over the weekend of May 4-6, organized by the student council and financially supported by UNYP, was a great success. A total of 47 students went by bus…almost. After Erik Rodriguez missed the bus, the joke of the trip was, “Where is Erik?” (Rodriguez took a train and caught up with the group on Saturday night.) “The hostel was a bit a disappointment, but I really liked the city! The people are so incredibly nice,” co-organizer Danijela Demarin said. 

Whole group chilling near the artificial lake in the center

Budapest Castle

On the tour with a Croatian guide

Boat cruise on the Danube River

Amphibious bus: Touring in the streets and on the river

Blazers vs. ADsport.cz

The UNYP football team took on a major challenge in an April 19 finals match at Sparta Prague Hall, and posted its best-ever finish in the International Sport League. “It was a great success,” said Blazers manager Danny DeFisho. (See related story, “Big Score for UNYP’s Silver Blazers”)

Vinicius Salvi in defense

Heated action during the match

UNYP supporters were cheering until the final seconds

Grateful players after the match

The entire team celebrates with satisfied fans

Maastricht Road Trip

The UNYP Psychology Club took to the road over the weekend of April 20-24, accepting an invitation from Maastricht University to get a firsthand look at its Master’s program. “We were charmed; we all will probably go there,” said club President Olga Zhuk. 

The Psychology Club checks out the facilities

Simona Višínová and Martina Kavanová,
already looking like Maastricht students

The beauty the Netherlands has to offer

A beautiful day for a bicycle outing

Taking advantage of local transportation

Idiotism Hot Couture Fashion Show “Made in UNYP”

A night of style and glamor at Jet Set on April 13 featured Natáshe, a Czech-Georgian clothing brand founded in 2011 by UNYP alumni Natalia Chkhikvadze. For this fashion show, she was aided by other talented hands (and legs) from UNYP.

Ksenia Yegerova, a 3rd year UNYP
Psychology student, modeling Natáshe

Petar Buha, enjoying the show in beautiful company

Michaela Matějíčková, a 2^nd year UNYP
Communication student, presenting
one of the designer’s masterpieces

The audience enjoying the afterparty

Even the best models have to chill sometimes

PASSPORT: Vu Tuan Anh

The Story of Vietnamese Integration in the Czech Republic

By Michal K.

Name: Vu Tuan Anh, a.k.a. Bob

Country: Vietnam/Czech Republic

Year Born: 1990

Major: Communication and Mass Media

Hobbies: motorsport, cars in general, drawing and sketching, martial arts, breakdancing, house dancing, extreme martial arts tricking (acrobatics)

Bob doing what he loves - Martial Arts

UNYPRESS: Both of your parents are Vietnamese, but you were born and raised in the Czech Republic. Who do you feel to be?

BOB: To be honest, I am both. I love Vietnamese traditions and I was raised in the Vietnamese way. But I have lived here for all my life. I know Czech culture just like any Czech person would, and I accept it. I am pretty open, but I am proud of my roots.

UNYPRESS: What do you think is the main difference between the Czech and the Vietnamese mentality?

BOB: I think Czech people are more individualistic, they are solo players. Vietnam has a much more collectivist culture which plays a role in everyday life – people are more open towards each other and do little favors to help each other. I could be wrong, though. Maybe it is just a reaction to the communist era here, and Czechs learned to be cautious of who they believe.

UNYPRESS: The Czech Republic is ethnically quite homogenous, but it also has a large Vietnamese community. How did this happen?

BOB: Younger readers might not know this, but the migration from Vietnam to the Czech Republic is rooted back in the time of communism here. The Czech government had a special deal with the Vietnamese: They would send a cheap workforce to the Czechs, and in return, the Vietnamese would acquire industry know-how and bring it back. But they were better off here than in Vietnam, and after the fall of the Iron Curtain, many took the opportunity to stay. Over time, they invited more and more family members, and the community grew. They started to have children who were born in the Czech Republic and lived here as Czechs.

UNYPRESS: Czechs are known to be not overly welcoming to immigrants and minorities. Do you come across this often? And how do you think Vietnamese people are perceived here?

BOB: I think in the past it used to be quite good.  We were seen as quiet and hardworking people. Recently it got a lot worse. I do not deny that there are problems, but the media really inflates them a lot, and now people think we are all involved in the drug trade. You really feel the negative attitude sometimes. I do not mind that I am checked by the cops all the time, they are doing their job. But I do mind that they never show any respect. They always act in a very derogatory way. I try to ignore the insults and negative views when addressed to me, but I cannot stand when people treat my relatives without any respect and insult them because of the stereotypes.

UNYPRESS: So how often do the police stop you? And how exactly do they behave?

BOB: Recently, the police started checking the IDs of all Asians to see if they are here legally or not. When they see me, they will stop me. In the last two weeks, it happened twice. They often use the impolite form “ty.” I try to show respect to them, as I respect their job and authority. But if they show no respect to me, do I need to be kind? If they treat me bad, I treat them the same way. It is just the matter of word choice, though.

UNYPRESS: Sometimes I feel that if a few more Czechs worked as hard as much of your community does, the country would be a better place. But we also have to acknowledge that the percentage of Vietnamese people involved in crime here is on the rise. Why is that happening?

BOB: The Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic is divided into groups – the older generation, and the new ones. The first wave has been here since communism. They are well-settled, and happy to be here. It works for them because their immigration was done properly. The new immigrants are causing a lot of trouble because there are agencies that bring them here and misuse them, forcing them to commit crimes for them. Sometimes these people were promised a lot, but the agencies took away all their money and passports. The victims then had no other choice but to work for them. So now it is a shady business.

On the other hand – and this is entirely their fault – some just have the mindset to make quick money and leave. They do not wish to integrate at all. They might incline toward organized crime in order to make fast money. This is why the first wave disapproves of them totally. We were raised in the spirit of working hard and being grateful for the chance to show people that we can be a value to the community. In fact, we are very pissed off toward them, because they ruin our reputation.

UYNPRESS: Do you think things will get better? Right now it seems to be getting worse.

BOB: In a way I understand the Czechs, we are also angry about the bad things going on. But what people do not realize is that their negative attitude toward us will only make things worse. It will not make the drug trade go away. But it will make many good people bitter and unwilling to integrate. It is very hard to stay positive when you know that you are working hard, living your life, and all the society can do is to mark you as an Asian drug dealer.

Right now I am at a university and I have good future chances. So do many other kids of the older-generation immigrants. I hope that sooner or later this will become visible to the Czech people, and they will realize that we are not as bad as they think. It all takes time. We just must not let the negativity put us off.

Journalism is not just a talent. It is a skill to be taught.

There's more to being a journalist than putting personal thoughts together

By Danijela Demarin

Since the appearance of UNYPRESS, there seems to be a great amount of confusion and misunderstanding regarding potential competition to Perception, and negative connotations related to originality. Let us present ourselves properly.

Although our website has a section titled “About Us,” we will assume that not many of you clicked to learn about our mission statement or potential goals. So we will start from the very beginning.

UNYPRESS was established by the News Writing class. This class has been publishing a student newspaper at UNYP for the past nine years. Under the supervision of an experienced journalist and long-term professor, Mr. Frank Kuznik, students learn how to achieve recognition in today’s challenging world of modern media. Basically, creating a website and writing articles are both class assignments, not students’ free will.

Furthermore, News Writing is a class mostly attended by Communication and Mass Media students who have successfully completed Introduction to Media Writing, which speaks to the standards and professionalism required to be in the classroom and participate in projects.

Under Mr. Kuznik’s control, students write about numerous topics that are required to be intensively researched and based on credible sources. Do not let the word “control” mislead you: Students choose topics, and if they are approved, the process of gathering information may start. In order for the process to work properly, there has to be a gatekeeper who will keep the area clean of low-quality stories that do not meet professional standards. To be clearer, all the traditional journalistic values must be cherished and constantly used while delivering high-quality media stories. This is the point where the difference between UNYPRESS and Perception becomes very clear.

Perception was created in Spring 2011 as one of the student clubs, another extracurricular activity. Anyone can write and publish. No criteria, no control, no standards. Students are given full freedom to choose a topic and send it to editors, who then shape the story and publish it. The rest you all probably already know by heart. The project has so far been a great success and we would like to wish the Perception team a very successful continuation of their work this semester, and many more freelance writers willing to share their thoughts with other UNYPers!

However, we also hope that this short insight into our goals and functions manages to clear up the situation, and makes it possible for all of our readers to distinguish between the two different organizations.