FAQ & Contact
Get your questions answered & contact us
Every year, a new group of students makes up the OWL board. The 2026 Owl board is the 14th OWL board and is in charge of executing the weeklong Summer OWL for the incoming international students at Leiden University. For inquiries feel free to contact us. Please make sure to address the relevant board member.
Sofiia Rudenko
guides and crew
About Sofiia
Hi everyone 
My name is Sofiia, I am from Ukraine and I study Psychology which is my passion since I was 16 During OWL I am responsible for Guides&Crew. In my free time I love to listen to music (especially One Direction as I am a big fan of them), playing cards and doing some TikTok creation as it is my biggest hobby:) hopefully you all going to have amazing time during OWL and your student life!
Keval Mehta
LOGISTICS &
SCRIPTS
About Keval
Hi! I’m Keval, a statistics student from India. I’ve only been in Leiden for a few months now, but I’ve had the best time of my life. I may love numbers, but I also love art, and nothing gets to my soul like a good book or a well-composed crescendo. I am having a great time doing what I do here, with my board, and I hope we can give you an amazing experience. See you at OWL, and welcome to Leiden!
Charlotte Tscheulin
Partners
About Charlotte
Hi! I’m Charlotte, I am a Psychology student from Germany. In OWL, I am responsible for the communication with partners and making sure our collaborations run smoothly. When I’m not studying, I like to read or spend time outdoors and with my friends
Ibrahim Çiçek
TREASURER &
MEDIA
About Ibrahim
Hi! I’m Ibrahim. I’m a Computer Science student from Türkiye, and I take care of the treasury and website behind the scenes. When I’m not fixing bugs or planning budgets, I’m probably out cycling somewhere or having crazy adventures with my friends!
Mavi Yazıcı
participants & secretary
About Mavi
Hello, I am Mavi. I am a psychology bachelor student from Türkiye. I love meowing at random cats on the street and taking long walks while listening to my favourite albums. If you ever come over to my house, I will feed you a delicious 10-course meal like a real Turkish grandmother. I am thrilled about being on the 14th board of OWL, and I cannot wait to see you all having an unforgettable week with us!
Frequently Asked Questions
Registration
OWL participation is by invitation only. We invite all international students who are coming in new to start the Spring semester at Leiden University in the city of Leiden. We use the official University database to target the intended students. We regularly update this list and re-send invitations.
The invitation is in no way an official confirmation of acceptance to Leiden University. We take our information from the database and invite anyone who has applied and has been conditionally admitted, regardless of the final acceptance or not. We do this because the acceptance procedure is sometimes lengthy or halted due to administrative delays and we don’t want anyone to miss out because of this.
If you are still awaiting a decision on acceptance, we urge you to consider carefully before signing up! You can wait until the last moment to sign up as, although we do close the online registration about a week prior to the start of OWL, we never close the actual registration and you can always join by signing up in person. If you have to deregister after having signed up, costs may still be charged.
First, please CHECK YOUR SPAM! Unfortunately our invitation tends to end up in many spam boxes. Also, don’t worry! Although we sent the first invitations in June of 2026, we regularly update and re-send the invitation. If your process of acceptance was delayed you might receive an invitation at a later stage. Please do make sure you have taken all the steps to complete your registration at Leiden University (what you need to do is stated in your acceptance letter).
You are advised to contact us if you have not received an invite by the 12th of August 2026 as we close online registration on the 17th of August 2026. You can send an email to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl :Please state your full name and student number in that email.
You can receive a refund for your participants fee if you sent us an email informing us of your cancellation before August 12th.
After this deadline a refund is no longer possible. There might be a small administrative charge for cancelling
We will send you a confirmation after we received your cancellation email!!
There are no refunds possible for any additional purchases, or for the Leidse Pas. You can pick up additional purchases during the OWL or within 3 weeks after the OWL.
Please note: All refunds need to be claimed and all ordered products need to be picked up within 3 weeks after the end of the OWL
If you cancel/deregister after this date we can no longer offer you a full refund as we have started to finalize orders and started spending the fees. Depending on circumstances we may be able to offer a partial refund of the fee, but this will be determined per individual case. Please do always inform us so we can inform our Guides and we can get in touch with you about picking up useful information.
If you have relevant changes that will affect your participation in the Orientation week, for instance change of e-mail address or course/faculty, please let us know as soon as possible! We communicate through the email address that is known to us (so for instance make sure you don’t use an email address from your previous educational institute that is going to expire) and we put participants in groups based on course/faculty so this is very important information to be correct. You can inform us by sending an email to: participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl.
Because we keep the online registration open until the 17th of August 2026, we won’t be able to form or finalize the groups until later in that week. Therefore you will only receive an email with additional (and final) information a few days prior to the start of the OWL.
You will receive an email from us with additional information shortly before the start of the week. It will also ask you to download and register for the Orientation Week Leiden app. We use this app during the week to communicate and it shows your personal programme, your Guides’ contact information, all events and locations and a lot more information. You can also sign up for specific workshops using the app.
General/programme
The university considers the OWL programme to be mandatory. This is because of the many advantages that the programme offers to students who do take part. To name a few:
• You are introduced to your faculty, course and fellow students
• You get acquainted with the city of Leiden and the whereabouts of the university
• All the facilities for international students are introduced, ranging from student associations to counsellors and student advisers
• Experience has shown that OWL participants feel more at home, have a larger social network to fall back on and are also more likely to be successful in their study goals.
• It’s great fun and gives you the chance to meet a lot of new people!
If there is an urgent reason why you can’t fully participate, please contact the OWL committee and see what can be arranged. If it is not possible for you to join the programme at all, it is very regrettable but there are no consequences.
No, we are very sorry but the OWL Week is organised solely for registered and accepted students of Leiden University. If there are any medical or pressing other reasons why you might need someone who did not receive an invitation to join, to accompany you during the OWL programme, please inform us by emailing to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl
We strongly recommend that you participate in the whole programme, since you will have the opportunity to arrange your administrative affairs during this week and learn to find your way around Leiden and the University buildings. Besides, we have made the programme fun and interesting! If you have to miss (a substantial) part of the programme, please let us know in advance through the registration form or by emailing to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl. If you have to miss small parts of the programme (for instance to arrange things) we ask you to please inform your Guides so they know not to wait for you and so you can arrange to meet up again with your group afterwards.
• Your group number and the emergency phone number of the OWL organisation.
• ID-card or Passport.
• Raincoat/umbrella/ warm clothes/sunscreen/(OWL) water bottle.
• Medicine (if needed).
Also to keep with you:
• WRISTBAND (provided by us at the registration) – keep it on for the duration of the OWL Week: You will need to show it at several parts of the programme!
• FOOD COUPONS (provided by us at registration) – you need these to receive the meals we provide during the week: No coupon means no meal! If you lose your food coupons you have to buy new ones to receive the meals: so take good care of them and don’t forget to bring them!
If you are going to be late for the registration on Monday the 24th of August, let us know as soon as possible by e-mail to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl.
If you are late signing up (online registration closes on the 17th of August 2026) you can still join! You can come to the registration desk at Plexus Student Centre (Kaiserstraat 25, Leiden) to register and pay in person. Our Coordination Team will help you on your way.
If you have already registered, met your guides and you are going to be late during the week, please inform your guides.
During the week we have the OWL headquarters set up at Plexus Student Center. A Coordination Team will be available to help you by answering your emails, phone calls and in person.
The contact details will be in the information email you receive just before the start of the OWL and on the App. Your Guide can also help you to arrange things or bring you to the CT.
If you have questions before the start of the week you can email us at participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl
Owl does not organise Schiphol pick-ups. We do have some information:
The cheapest and fastest way to travel from Schiphol Airport to Leiden is by train. At Schiphol Airport, the train station is situated underneath the Schiphol Plaza in the central hall of the terminal. You will also find the ticket desks and ticket machines in the central hall. A one-way ticket (enkele reis) starts from €7,80. Direct trains to Leiden run every fifteen minutes and the journey takes around 20 minutes.
You can check out the site to plan your journey or book your e-ticket in advance. Please follow this LINK.
Travel by taxi
A taxi from Schiphol to Leiden is rather pricy:
If you book beforehand (cheapest way) it will be between €90,- and €120,- Booking it in advance will be cheaper:
Taxis and buses are located just outside Leiden Central Station.
(The taxi fare from Leiden Central Station to Leiden city centre is approximately € 20,-)
Payment & Costs
The participation in Summer OWL ’26 costs €100,- The OWL is self-funding which means we get very limited financial support from the University and have to find our own funding and use participants fees to organise the OWL week. All fees are used to organise the week. Most meals during the week (4 lunches and 4 dinners) are included during the OWL.
We will have bars available at several events and during the OWL there will be events and organisations to sign up for which might require payment. You can find more information on these extra options in the app.
Because not everyone is interested in the extra social activities like the PubcrOWL and the End Party, these events might not be included in the general fee and come with additional costs for those interested.
Registration for the Summer OWL ’26 opens half June. You will receive an invitation through email with information and a link to sign up.
If you are a starting international student and you didn’t receive an invitation yet, check that you completed your registration for the University! We regularly update our system and re-send invitations. If you haven’t received your invite by the 12th of August or if you are worried or you have questions, you can contact us at participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl
In case your payment fails or your credit card is not accepted, please try again. It might also help to try another browser.
If you are still not able to complete your payment, you can email us at participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl.
Groups & Guides
The programme of the Summer OWL 2026 will appear on the website in June. The programme is still subject to change though.
A couple of days prior to the start of the Orientation Week we will send you an e-mail with more information. You will receive the names and contact details for your guides, your group number and you will be informed about your first meeting point with your group. We also ask you to download our app which contains all the information you will be needing during the week, including your personalised programme.
You can let us know beforehand that you would like to be in the same group as someone you know by emailing to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl
As long as you belong to the same faculty it should not be a problem. We do want to mention that in general it is very easy to meet new people during OWL: everyone starts from the same not-knowing-anyone place and the atmosphere during OWL is very open and welcoming because of this. We also try to make somewhat well-balanced groups where we take faculty, study phase, nationality and age range into account.
AFTER you have received your group number it is NO longer possible to easily change groups. You would need to go to the Coordination Team during the week so that they can make the administrative changes (like exchanging your food coupons which are linked to shifts and locations and any other shift-based activities, change your personal programme in the app, inform the 2 pairs of Guides etc).
Diet Restrictions & Allergies
We try our hardest to accommodate for allergies/dietary wishes during the Orientation Week. If you have a serious food allergy or strict diet you can let us know through the sign up form or by emailing: participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl. Please do so as soon as possible so we can take it into consideration while finalizing the food orders for the OWL Week. If you do not feel comfortable with eating the food we will be providing due to severe allergies, or if we are not able to cater to your specific dietary restrictions, a refund for the food is possible and you will be able to provide for your own meals. Any dietary refunds need to be agreed upon by us before the deadline of the 12th of August.
Disabilities
Yes, if you feel that your disability has an effect on your participation in the week, you can still register for the Orientation Week but we ask you to let us know (via email to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl ) about your disability as soon as possible. This will allow us to take your needs into consideration. We will always make sure that you are placed within a group with experienced and competent Guides. Also, keep in mind that you are not obliged to participate in every single activity. However, please inform your guides if you decide not to participate in an event. If you have any doubts or questions you can contact us at participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl
Accomodation
If you haven’t been able to arrange accommodation during the OWL (or after), you still have various options to find a place to sleep in time:
1. Regularly check the OWL & ESN Facebook pages and join Facebook groups like” Rooms/Housing & Furniture Leiden University” Here you can post messages to students already living in Leiden who might have a suitable place for you during the OWL(and after)!
2. Book the StayOK hostel in The Hague (only 12 minutes from Leiden by train). It is the cheapest Hostel/Hotel option around Leiden.
3. Sign up for Couchsurfing. With Couchsurfing, you can stay with locals in every country all over the world or make use of the Airbnb.
4. Check the info on Housing on the University website for more tips
5. Book a hotel in or nearby Leiden. You can find the best deals on Trivago.com or Booking.com
