I had decided that I wanted to travel to Leiden pretty early during my first year, pretty much as soon as the possibility was introduced to me. I was pretty excited about the opportunity to travel to a new country, and the fact that I would be studying the same courses at Leiden as I would at Karolinska made the choice a no-brainer.

We were given presentations from students that had been at Leiden University the previous year, so I had an idea of what to expect. We were told to try and find housing as quickly as possible, since Leiden is a small town with a lot if students, and it is much more convenient to live in Leiden itself rather than in den Haag or some other nearby place.

Despite the adequate information, I was still a bit slow regarding my preparations for the trip. Originally, we were about six students that had planned on travelling to Leiden, so I was interested in larger apartments that we could share. However, larger apartments were not available for the short period of time that we were going to study. Eventually, some of the students that were interested in the exchange changed their minds, leaving us at a total of three students. I decided to look for a small place for myself instead, and searched via some of the links provided by the Leiden University housing office. There is also a Leiden Housing Facebook group where you might also be able to find a room to rent.

I was rather picky with choosing an apartment since I was not willing to share a kitchen with other students, knowing beforehand how messy they can get combined with the fact that I am an overall pretty neat person. I eventually settled on an apartment that I found through a service called Accommodate, which is a division of DUWO, a Dutch student housing company, specialized in providing short term accommodation for international students. However, my initial accommodation was a disaster, but I was able to sort the situation out, which I will mention later in the report.

I got a cheap ticket to the Netherlands via SAS Ungdom and booking ahead of time. Including an extra piece of baggage it was a little under 1000 SEK for a one way ticket.

I arrived by plane at Amsterdam just 1 day before the start of the orientation week, and easily took the train to den Haag. The first thing I did on arrival was buying a railway card and a pre-paid sim card from Lebara. Important to note that this usually does not include mobile data, so make sure to buy that separately as well or you will drain your card very quickly.

The arrival at Leiden University was very welcoming, and they had organized an introductory week for new students to get to know each other, the OWL week. Students were divided up into groups, based on what they were studying. My group leader was a friendly Norwegian who did a great job taking care of us during our entire stay. I definitely recommend attending the introductory week (it is optional), since the people in the group were those I ended up spending most of my time with. The OWL week is a great way to get to know a bit about Leiden and learn how to orient yourself in the city and the university campus that stretches throughout it.

My accommodation on arrival was initially in den Haag, but after 2 weeks I switched to a place in Leiden, which was a lot more convenient. One of the first things that I did was buy I bike, which I did during a bike sale that was organized as part of the introductory week. I cannot overstate how useful this bike was. The only reason not to buy a bike in the Netherlands is if you can’t bike, an even then it is almost worth learning, just for how easy it becomes to get around. My apartment was outside central Leiden, but I could still get to the LUMC in 10 minutes by bike. The country is very flat, with excellent bike roads that can take you anywhere. In some cases streets had no sidewalk but they had a bike lane.

Cash is still king in the Netherlands. This will prove true unless you either have a Maestro card, or decide to open an account at a local bank. The majority of supermarkets and other smaller stores do not accept modern Visa or MasterCard cards that use chips, and you will have to rely on cash withdrawals. This will hopefully change in the future, since it is a strange and archaic feature in what is otherwise a very modern country. It is also usually impossible to pay online with a foreign bank account or card, such as when buying a railway card.

Personally, I did not think it was worth the trouble to open a Dutch bank account. There is no extra charge for cash withdrawals within the EU, as long as the withdrawal is in euro. The fact that I had to use cash made it a little easier to keep track of frivolous spending as well, and was a pleasant change from my normally cash free life in Sweden.

The amount of money you will spend every month will depends on your living conditions, how many nights out you have per week, and how much you cook at home. Groceries in the Netherlands were slightly cheaper than in Sweden, especially when it came to seasonal fruits and vegetables. Eating out at fast food places is also cheaper than in Sweden, and the LUMC canteen had reasonably priced lunch menu at 3.75€ for a hot meal.

Personally, my monthly spending was like 15% higher than it was in Sweden, but that was mainly due to my craving for Dutch fries, snacks, and other frivolous spending.However, I had prepared for this beforehand by saving some money.

My first residence was in den Haag, since I was not able to find anything in Leiden via Accommodate. However, the room was awful, since it was nothing but a big room with two beds and two desks, and I had to share both kitchen and bathroom. It was also far from the center of den Haag, in what was apparently a pretty bad neighbourhood. If it were cheap that would be one thing, but it was ~600€ a month. It was very demoralizing, and I immediately went and talked to the international coordinator about this, since it was supposedly the university guaranteeing these rooms. I ended up contacting DUWO, the dutch student housing company responsible for the buildings. They were very helpful, and for the same price I was paying I got a studio apartment in the outskirts of Leiden, with my own kitchen and bathroom. The reason why it wasn’t available initially was that it was going to be renovated so I would have to move out at the end of December and find a new place to stay for the last weeks of the semester in January.

After I got my new apartment, I was very happy. It was a 10 minute bike ride from the LUMC, and a 5 minute bike ride from the sports center. It even had a balcony, and all that for slightly less than I was paying for that dump in den Haag. However, the poor initial residence was in part my fault, and I should have been more aware.

One downside to these DUWO residences was the fact that the “Kitchen Kit” you get is severely lacking, so I had to buy some stuff from Ikea to supplement it. Also, others have mentioned that they are very keen on keeping the deposit you pay if they find the slightest reason to do so, so it is important to not destroy anything, and to clean the place properly before you move out.

For the last weeks of the semester, I managed to rent and share a room second hand. The room initially belonged to one of the students in my introduction week group, but she had rented it until the end of January but was not going to be there at the time. It was in a tiny Dutch house and a bit crowded, but since it was only a short stay I did not mind.

The overall method of studying was a bit different from what I was used to, but it provided a stimulating change of pace. I felt that it placed a bit more focus on individual studies and responsibility, since at certain times it required daily studies. It was also important to keep up and not fall behind, since the workload could easily become very high.

In general there were less lectures than I was used to at KI, and a larger focus on individual studies and groups discussion. During the most intense parts of the studies, there was almost always an assignment for the next day, often in the form of questions that were discussed in a seminar style environment. However, this type of learning was nice in the sense that you spend less time panic studying the days before the exam, since the workgroups provide good repetition of the study material.

The grading system differed between KI and Leiden, where they use a one to ten scale, where a ten is the highest grade. However, the scale is slightly misleading, since it is not really linear. A ten is not really an achievable grade in essay testing, where at KI the highest grade of A is realistically achievable. This is due to cultural and historical reasons, where a ten is only given in cases of absolute perfection, which on a multiple choice test would actually require you to have every answer correct. Even an essay test where you get every question right would not give you a ten, since that would mean your answers are absolutely perfect and there is no room for improvement. An eight or nine is considered a very good grade, where an eight is approximately equivalent to an A at KI. Passing grade is a six, so you could almost compare the grade system to the old Swedish “G – VG – MVG” scale.

The overall level of the teachers were good, with decent English. Many of the lecturers we had for certain topics were people who worked within that particular field, which I believe adds a certain degree of enthusiasm.

Learning Dutch is definitely not necessary, since practically everyone I came across during the entire trip spoke English. However, learning some Dutch is not that hard if you already speak English and Swedish, and even easier if you also speak German. The toughest part is speaking it, with their weird pronunciation of vowels, and their throaty “G”. I didn’t really bother speaking, I was mainly interested in trying to read Dutch since that felt a lot easier. It can be useful to know what a sign or poster is saying, since not everything was written in English as well.

Culturally, the Dutch didn’t feel too far away from the swedes, but like the Swedes I got an impression that they prefer to keep to themselves. I enjoyed their laid back, liberal, and frugal attitudes. There were many great tourist destinations to visit, especially if you are willing to travel to Amsterdam and den Haag.

My favorite part of Dutch culture was the food. The French fries there were the best I have ever had, and eating them with fritessaus (the “mayonnaise” that they serve to fries) was delicious. They also had a lot of delicious seafood. There were food trucks were you could get herring the Dutch way, which was pretty much a whole piece, served with raw onions. You could also get fried mussels, and sandwiches with nothing but bread and thick slices of delicious fish. Dutch pancakes are also a must have, especially poffertjes, which are slightly thicker mini-pancakes, usually served with butter and powdered sugar.

The Dutch also have a quirky love for sandwiches, and have all kinds of sandwich toppings. It would not be unusual for students or even medics and professors to bring a pile of sandwiches from home for their lunch. My personal favorite sandwich topping was “filet americain”, which was a paste made of raw meat, usually served with chopped onions and boiled egg slices.

There are plenty of things to do in Leiden in your free time, and since Leiden is located between den Haag and Amsterdam, it is easy and quick to travel to both of those cities. There a plenty of local bars to visit given the student town nature of Leiden. There are interesting museums and other tourist attractions in both of the big cities.

There is a student sports center that is part of the university, which has a gym. Membership at the sports center is pretty cheap, costing 100€ for a 6 month membership. They have several classes available to members, covering all kinds of activities. There are also sports teams to play with if you are interested. The gym itself was pretty small and severely lacking in some areas, such as having only one squat rack, one bench and no power rack. It could also get pretty crowded depending on the time of day. However, considering the price and the location, it wasn’t too bad.

I did not go out much during my stay, spending most of my time studying, exercising or relaxing. However, there is plenty of time to go out even with the course load we had, it just depends on how much energy you want to spend on getting better grades. Most of the time I was socializing was spent with other exchange students, mainly those I met during the introductory week. I did not have a lot of interaction with the Dutch students in my class.

Spending a semester in Leiden was a fantastic opportunity, one that I would heartily recommend to others who are considering it. The university works hard to make you feel welcome, and the international coordinator was very helpful. I had plenty of fun, was able to experience a country I had never visited before, and challenged myself academically by studying hard in a different environment than I was used to. It was tough as well, just showing up in a completely new environment, but learning to adapt in this way is something that I believe is important to learn. Overall, it was an amazing adventure.