FAQ & Contact
Get your questions answered & contact us
Every year, a new group of students makes up the OWL board. The 2024 Owl board is the 12th OWL board and is in charge of putting the 2 Leiden University introduction programmes together. They will execute the weeklong Winter and 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.
Daniela Quimbayo
President
¡Hola! ¿Qué más pues? I’m Daniela, I’m 23 years old and I’m from Colombia. I’m currently pursuing my master’s in health and medical psychology here in Leiden, and I have the privilege to be the proud President of the 12th OWL board. In this role I’m the go-to person for our incredible team, providing guidance and ensuring a smooth journey for OWL 2024.
When I’m not immersed in the world of academia, you can find me lost in a good book, dancing, or in general spending time outdoors.
Excited to explore more of this beautiful country and make new connections! Can’t wait to meet you all during Winter OWL 2024. Let’s make it unforgettable!
Erik Gerisch
Commissioner of GUides & Crew
Glück auf! I’m Erik, 22 years old and I’m from Saxony, Germany. I’m currently in my second year of the BA Linguistics, track Descriptive Linguistics. This of course means I’m passionate about languages!
During my board year for OWL, I’m responsible for recruiting and interviewing the volunteers. This includes guides on the one hand, our fantastic crew on the other. Feel free to sign up (link in the bio) and connect with lots of other internationals!
In my free time you’ll probably find me vibing to 2000s music or bar-hopping with my friends. Looking forward to this adventure!
Aditya Chatterjee
Treasurer
Hello! I’m Aditya, an Indian-Finn and a second-year student majoring in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. With a passion for numbers, I am honored to serve as the Treasurer on the OWL board. My role is to ensure we create enjoyable experiences for everyone and stretch our resources to the maximum.
Over the past year, I’ve grown to love this city. In my free time, I enjoy music, socializing with friends at the many vibrant bars in Leiden, and taking long walks with my dog. I’m excited for the fun times ahead and to contribute to our fantastic community!
Lin Kolev
Commissioner of Participants
Hi, I’m Lin, 22 years old, from Bulgaria. I am in my third year of the Bachelor of Archaeology and I am passionate about researching museum collections and Indigenous archaeology!
In OWL I am responsible for inviting all our participants, responding to your questions and organising the groups.
In my free time I enjoy museum visits, going to the cinema with friends and visiting new places and meeting new people!
Ian de Haan
Social Media & Secretary
E ai!? Qual é a boa? (:
I’m Ian, a Brazilian student currently doing a second bachelor here in the Netherlands. In Brazil, I studied Biomolecular Physics and I’m currently entering my third year in Data Science & AI here at Leiden University. Since I came here, I’ve been growing to love the Dutch culture and to bear the Dutch weather.
In my free time, I spend hours listening to music (anything from prog rock to high school musical soundtrack), play games, and in the last year have become addicted to bouldering. I’m also always up for a drink!
I’m excited to meet you owl and to deliver an incredible OWL week!
Elle Möller
Comissioner Of Partners
Hej/Hola/Hello!! My name is Elle, I’m 22 years old and I’m Swedish Peruvian but I grew up in the US. Currently I’m finishing up my Bachelor of Psychology, while taking on the role of Partners & Acquisition for the OWL. In this role I deal with all different kinds of sponsors that help make the OWL week possible. When I’m not doing OWL, you’ll find me at my part-time job…. but when I’m not at my part-time job you might find me knitting or sowing, spending time with my friends and listening to my music a little too loud.
I’m so excited for this Summers OWL, it’s my fourth year participating, and I hope to bring all you incoming students
an incredible experience with lasting friendships just like OWL has brought me.
Can’t wait to meet you all!!!
Lily Weber
Commissioner of Logistics
Hallo! I’m Lily, 21 years old, and from Berlin, Germany 🙂 This summer I will be done with my Psychology Bachelor programme which gives me time to be the Commissioner of Logistics for this year’s OWL – this means I’m in charge of permits and other things to make this week happen!
Apart from OWL I spend most of my time hanging out with friends, crocheting, playing the guitar, and working at a restaurant in Leiden! I also enjoy thrift shopping, going to the movies or just hanging out in one of Leiden’s many parks when I have the time 🙂
I’m excited to be part of this week! Ask me anything you want to know about living in Leiden as an international student (I’m also designing this year’s booklet with tips for finding housing, jobs, healthcare, and just in general fun things about Leiden)!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is OWL?
OWL stands for Orientation Week Leiden and is the introduction programme for new international students to Leiden University who will be taking their courses in Leiden.
Although the OWL is not mandatory, we strongly advise you to attend this week in which we introduce new international students to The Netherlands, the city of Leiden, the University and to Dutch student life and everything it has to offer in general. You will also meet people from your study and many other people who are very open to making connections that might last a lifetime. You will be guided by experienced older students during this week who can also help you sort out practical matters. In short, the introduction programme helps to smoothen the start of your academic adventure in Leiden
Leiden University organizes 3 different weeks, each suited most to a specific target audience. The Dutch Bachelor students and students of Hogeschool Leiden (university of applied science)and MBO (secondary vocational education) are invited to join ELCID, students who are going to attend the The Hague Campus are invited to join HOP, and International students who will study in Leiden are invited for OWL. If you feel that the week that you were invited for is not the most suited to your needs, you can let us know and you can be invited to a different week.
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Registration
OWL participation is by invitation only. You will receive an invitation through email with information and a link to sign up.
At a later stage we will open up and make accessible all the information on the OWL APP. We invite all international students who are coming in new to start the autumn 2024 semester at Leiden University. We use the official University database to target the intended students. We update this list weekly and re-send invitations throughout the spring and summer. The deadline is the 16th of August 2024.
The deadline for signing up is the 16th of August. The deadline for full refunds is the 15th of August. After this date we will be making payments and orders and therefore spending the fees: no refunds will be possible. Check “how do I cancel/deregister from Orientation Week” for details. If you receive the invitation in June or July and you are not sure yet if you can join, you can wait until right before the deadline. There are no negative consequences as we won’t be forming the specific groups or sharing more detailed information until after registration has closed.
The participation costs for the Summer OWL is 100,- euro.
The invitation email includes a link that takes you to a registration form; you need to complete the form and fulfill the payment to complete registration. Our system accepts all major credit cards and IDEAL as ways of payment.
Besides the OWL itself you will also find options to sign up for a Leidse Pas and a USC Sports Card
Note: These additional purchases are only intended for participants who sign up for the OWL week
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, regardless of 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! We offer refunds until the 15th of August, after this we will be spending the fees and full refunds are no longer possible.
Don’t worry! Although we sent the first invitations in June, 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 10th of August, as the deadline is the 16th of August 2024.
Once you paid the fee, your registration is final.
If you wish to cancel from OWL because you won’t be attending Leiden University, please send an email to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl.
There are no full refunds possible after August 15th for the fee and any additional purchases (Leidse Pas and USC Sports card):
If academic or personal changes occurred between your time of registration and the actual OWL, preventing you from being able to study at Leiden university at all, let us know asap. We advise you to wait until you are sure of your status before signing up for OWL. If you are not sure about your status before the deadline of August 15th, and that deadline is approaching rapidly, you can contact us at participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl . For personal changes you can also send us an email.
If you have relevant changes that will affect your participation in the Orientation week (namely change of e-mail address or course/faculty), please let us know as soon as possible by sending an email to: participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl.Be aware that we take our info from the database of Leiden university so although we can change it for OWL purposes, you may want to contact the university registration to change it for your general registration at Leiden University.
Because we keep the online registration open until the 16th of August, we won’t be able to form or finalize the groups until the week after that date. Therefore you will only receive an email with additional information and access to sign in to the App a few days prior to the start of the OWL.
No, we are very sorry but the OWL Week is organised only for registered and accepted students of Leiden University.
If you were invited to join a previous OWL, it means you are no longer a new student starting for the first time in Leiden. The OWL is meant to provide a good start to students who have just arrived in Leiden so it is not possible to join the OWL if you are not part of the new group starting in September 2024. If you want to meet (new) people to expand your social network, you can sign up to be Guide or Crew!
Leiden University and the OWL have the following Terms and Conditions
Groups
A couple of days prior to the start of the Orientation Week we will send you an e-mail with more information. In this email, 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.
After you have received your group number it is no longer possible to change groups.
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 be no problem.
During the OWL-week, if you have questions or problems relating to your group or Guides you can report to the Coordination team at Plexus Student Centre. They can help you.
There are two types of events. For some events, your group will get a time slot in which you can attend the event with your group. (Boat rides, dinners) Other activities you can join on individual basis or with only part of your group, for example workshops or museum visits.
General/programme
The OWL programme starts with registration on Monday the 26th of August . If you can only join later during the week, it is not a problem if you let us know in advance. We will inform you what to do upon arrival and we will contact the guide of your OWL group and let them know that you will be late. You will need to visit the Coordination Team first upon arrival to pick up your bag and participant wristband. If the delay was unexpected, you can also visit the Coordination Team at Plexus Student Centre: Kaiserstraat 25, 2311GN Leiden. They will help you on your way
“Leiden University strongly recommends you to participate in the Orientation Week Leiden. It will give you a head start in both your academic and social life here in Leiden.”
– mr. Drs. H.W. te Beest, Deputy Chairman Executive Board, Leiden University
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, study 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 counselors 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 regrettable but there are no consequences.
We strongly recommend that you participate in the whole programme as it is a well-balanced programme designed to introduce you to as many aspects of Dutch and Leiden student life as possible. You will learn to find your way around Leiden and the University buildings, meet lots of people and besides that, we have made the programme fun and interesting! If you have to miss (a substantial) part of the programme or you will be arriving late on the first day, please let us know in advance through the registration form or by emailing to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl
If you need to leave at times 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 it will be in the programme booklet we send you just before the beginning of the week. Your Guide can also help you to arrange things or bring you to the CT.
If you have urgent questions before the start of the week you can email us at participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl
Because the OWL week is a very busy week with a lot of different locations, the OWL board has a small team of people who stay at headquarters all week; the Coordination Team.
They can help anyone with questions and are in direct contact with all the organisers at all locations.
• 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!
• ID-card or Passport.
• Your smartphone as we use the app for lots of information and to communicate any changes
• Raincoat/umbrella/sun-lotion.
• Medicine (if needed).
• A (re-usable) water bottle. Stay hydrated!
• Debitcard/creditcard- for safety and logistical reasons we aim to be a cashless week: you can top up the e-wallet we provide you with at registration (chip on the wristband) and use this at our bars. If this is an issue you can go to the Coordination Team and they can help you with this (we have pin machines and accept cash up to 50,- bills at CT so we can make the transfer for you). Any surplus on the e-wallet will be returned to your account shortly after the week.
Yes, you can still register for the Orientation Week. 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
Before you come to Leiden, there are a few things to think about and prepare. Please check out the Pre-departure page of Leiden university:
Prepare your stay
During the Orientation Week all use of drugs is prohibited. If participants or anyone involved in the OWL week (Guides, Crew, Student organisations etc.) is caught holding or using drugs there will be severe consequences: they will be excluded from further participation/involvement in the OWL.
Alcohol is prohibited for everyone under 18. If participants under 18 are caught in possession of or drinking alcohol during OWL events, or if anyone involved in the OWL week is caught providing alcohol to minors at OWL events, there will be severe consequences; they will be excluded from further participation/ involvement in the OWL.
All the Guides will receive an instruction for responsible alcohol use during the Guides & Crew training before the start of the OWL week and are responsible for the welfare of participants in their group. The abuse of alcohol might have consequences for both the responsible guides and the offending participant(s).
Although we may serve alcohol during the OWL week, we always have non-alcoholic drinks available at any and all of these events as well.
Leiden University and the OWL have the following Terms & Conditions.
For usage of the OWL app you will be asked to sign an additional agreement on online conduct.
Accomodation
Yes, the Orientation Week Committee is not able to arrange accommodation for its participants.
It may be possible however to make use of our special night dorm that we set up for the participants during the week if enough people are interested in this option. Please note that the DORM is only available to the (confirmed) OWL participants. You can express your interest for the dorm by ticking the box on the registration form. If the minimum interest is reached we will send you a sign up link which also includes the option to pre-order a sleeping bag and/or air-mattress. Please be aware that there are NO REFUNDS for the DORM, unless you cancel your admission to Leiden University. Also, we have a limited space at the dorm so it is on a first come-first serve basis.
The dorm is offered specifically to participants of the OWL and ends on Saturday the 31st of August.
If you do not want to make use of the dorm, (or interest is too low for us to set it up), 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 the pre-departure pages on the University homepage for more tips
5. Book a hotel in or nearby Leiden. You can find the best deals on Trivago.com or Booking.com
Yes, guests of the dorm are required to bring their own mattress and sleeping bag.
We offer a limited amount of sleeping bags and air mattresses for a fixed price. These you can pre-order along with your dorm fee and will then be waiting for you on location. They are yours to keep afterwards. Check out the night dorm for more info.
If you did not let us know on the form that you want a place at the dorm, you can send an email to participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl.
We will tick the box for you and send you the link with which you can sign up. Be advised there is a limited amount of places and it is first come-first served. We will post on our social media pages and/or the website when we have reached maximum capacity
No refunds are possible for cancelling the night dorm due to the first come first serve policy.
For the sleeping bags and air mattress there are also no refunds. You can pick those up at the dorm during the OWL or at the OWL office/Plexus, after the OWL week. Please inform us as soon as possible if you need to cancel the dorm as we do an identity check every night at check in.
We try our utmost to keep your belongings safe during the week: We have a separate locked off room for big items. The dorm room is locked during the day except for supervised fixed time slots. You can use lockers for easy access to (small) things at all times.
No: the dorm is based at the University Sports Centre and consists of 2 large sports rooms that have been reserved for the purpose of sleeping. You can fix your air mattress and sleeping bag and leave them there for the duration of the week (with the exception of the Sports day when we may have to store the things for the day as the rooms are being used). It is a simple but safe and cheap solution we offer for our “homeless” OWL participants. A simple breakfast is included in the fee. We offer a male-only and female-only dorm – if this poses a problem for you, please let us know at participants@owl.leidenuniv.nl
For more information on the dorm, check:
night dorm
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