International Student in Leiden: Housing, Life, etc.

Hi Lance,
I'm from Germany so I can't tell you much about the Netherlands,
but I know that you can reach Munich (and other cities in Germany/Europe) from Den Haag, Rotterdam or Amsterdam very cheap by bus --> www.eurolines.com

(of course it takes more time than by train or air)

And I don't think that there are do's and don'ts that you don't know.

Have fun during your time in Leiden,

greetings from Munich,
Hannah

1. It's worth checking out UL's website on this: specifically the links on this page and don't forget to read this page which is somewhere in that section. It will answer all your questions.

2. Personally I've never been in a Dutch student house which did not have a kitchen. A decent home made meal would be around €3-5. If you want to eat out there's always the mensa.
   The train costs €5,30 for a return to The Hague, €3,20 if you bother to buy a reduction card ( www.ns.nl</a> and www.9292ov.nl</a>. Takes 12 minutes to get there, trains go every 7 minutes or so.

3. Train. Swiftly and with style. Bicycle for short distances though.

4. ns hispeed (crappy site alert) and DB regularly have offers to various destinatins in Germany from €29. Within Germany there is a plethora of discount opportunities, if you make a specific post concerning a particular route I'm sure someone on this board can answer it.
   Oh and then there's Eurolines ofcourse...

5. Just this: the cultural experience is not complete without sampling a herring 'rotterdam style'...

Thank you Hannah and Dr. Who. I appreciate the advice.

Hey,

I study in Leiden and just read an article that the international student housing is very overpriced, so definately try to find some housing yourself through the links dr_who posted, esp Roofs. I think you should be able to find something for around 250-300 euro's a month. I know a fair number of students already leave Leiden for exchanges and such around May so you should have a good chance of finding something in a regular student house.
For traveling: The Hague is only about 15 minutes away by train, and in Leiden itself traveling by bike is the best option. Especially if you want to blend in that's an important one!

Thank you nonetheless, I appreciate the info. I will definitely look into other housing agencies and your right, the prices for international student housing while not too much more, definitely do not offer me much in the way of savings.

Thanks again.

be careful in your comparison between student housing and rent in the open market - student housing rent may cover the cost of heating/gas/electricity while the open market might not.

• just ask what's included.

DO look into buying the NS discount card, it costs about 48 euros but gives you 40% discount on any train travel, over two months it might not be worth it unless you're making a lot of longer trips. (You'd have to make 14 trips to either Amsterdam or Den Haag in that time to be worth it, it is valid on NS trains so can cover your journey as far as the Dutch border if it's on an NS train and not on the high speed ICE train)