Studera utomlands

Hesitating to go on exchange because you don’t know what to do? Well then this is the blog entry for you – I’m here to walk you through what needs to be done before your flight to the Netherlands!

During my own preparation, my main concerns were which courses I was supposed to take and how I was supposed to find housing, so I’ll go over those aspects in more detail here.

Applying

If you’re going on exchange in your second year as a biomedicine student, like me, your only option is Leiden University. Your application is done via Mobility Online and you can find all the info you need about your applying here. The deadline is at the beginning of the semester prior to your exchange – so half a year in advance. Once you’re nominated by KI, you also need to apply to LU via their website – this is more just a formality. Then, after you’re accepted by LU, you’ll receive A LOT of emails with instructions on what to do next.

Erasmus Grants & CSN

You’re automatically enrolled for the Erasmus grant if you’re an EU citizen, so there’s not much for you to do here – yay one less form to fill!

If you’re a Swedish citizen taking CSN, remember to select the “study abroad” option when applying for CSN in the semester of your exchange.

Course Selection

I don’t quite remember when, but somewhere in your application, you’ll need to choose the courses you’ll be taking in Leiden. So, for biomedicine students, these are the mandatory courses you take (in chronological order):

• Immunology
• Infectious Agents and Immunity
• Introduction to the Neurosciences
• Design and Analysis of Biomedical Studies → While you register for this, you don’t actually do this course, instead the exchange students follow two MOOCs (massive open online courses) on statistics and epidemiology. 
• Communication in Science → This one is different in the sense that it runs the entire semester but is only 2 credits. You are not assessed on your knowledge per say, more your ability to present, use of language, write articles etc. So you have small assignments for it (eg. a presentation or article review) that are related to the main course that you’re doing.

Since I’m not done with anything yet, I’ll save my comments on the courses for another entry 🙂

Accommodation

Now for arguably the most important part: housing. It is very difficult to find housing in the Netherlands, so make sure you start looking as soon as your place in LU is confirmed!

I decided to apply via DUWO – one of the student accommodation platforms – you’ll receive information on it in the emails from Leiden.

How DUWO works is you pay a fee to register yourself (I believe the earlier you pay the earlier access you get). Then when the housing is released (you get informed of the time and date in advance), it’s basically on a first come, first served basis – so be prepared to click FAST! Also, make sure you know exactly which one you want. Preferably have a couple options just in case you’re not fast enough or the website starts crashing.

Also, DUWO doesn’t exactly give you any helpful images of how the dorms look, so if you want a proper look, here’s a little tour of my dorms:

That’s it for this entry, if you have any other questions feel free to ask them below! 

See you in my next entry!

/ Rebekah