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071 Things You Should Do While At Leiden
Wednesday 7 September 2016

All in one image, useful for keeping track of your achievents

Going Out

Fall/jump into a canal

Party at all five of the large student fraternities

Go clubbing at HiFi on Tuesday night

Order a beer in Dutch

Sample The Hague’s nightlife

Wake up somewhere without knowing where you are

Visit a real Leiden pub, such as De Pomerans, De Rembrandt, Ons Hoekje or somewhere similar

Look for a club or sub-fraternity that focuses on an outdoor activity – canoeing, hunting, climbing, collecting fossils, whatever – and go away with them for a weekend

Throw out clothes because they will never be the same again after last night

Catch the night train

Miss the last train

Zooien (= slam dancing for frat boys)

At Home

Throw a party at your house

Break into your own house because you have locked yourself out

Snog someone who’s not from Leiden

The moment the sun shines, carry all the sofas outside and drink beer on the pavement with your housemates

Drugs - even if it’s only something from a smart shop

Mop up after a leak

Keep a plant alive

Throw out a pan or barbecue because you’re too lazy to clean it

Discover a new type of fungus on the dirty dishes you forgot to clean; you win extra points if the common variety of fungus that was growing on it is killed off by another kind

“Flip” a housemate (= turn his/her mattress over while he/she’s sleeping on it)

Food and drink

Drink ‘zwevertjes’ at Roebels

Eat hutspot during Leidens Ontzet (Leiden’s Relief) (2 and 3 October)

Eat at one of the restaurants run by Augustinus and/or Quintus

Eat a suspect shawarma pita after two in the morning

Eat a raw herring

Breakfast at Hema

Go on a date at La Bota

Eat a Friese Pof from Ús Bertus, the baker’s

Eat a cheese-fondue roll from Foodtruck De Fransoos

When you run out of cash, desperately throw all your leftovers together and hope it’s edible

Eat a takeaway in Van der Werfpark

Go to an exotic food store, buy stuff you’ve never seen before and try to cook something with it. Using Google for help is allowed.

Bike to the beach and have a barbecue there

Culture

Visit all the museums in Leiden

Go to a jazz concert at De Twee Spieghels

Visit the Leiden International Film Festival

Go to a gig in Gebr. De Nobel

Visit a student play

Go to Werfpop

Read a book for fun – many people forget that reading can be fun after secondary school

Visit the Burcht of Leiden

Find out who Zangeres Zonder Naam, Rubberen Robbie and Barry Badpak are

University

Take at least one course that is not part of your programme (Studium Generale is allowed)

Attend a thesis defence ceremony or inaugural lecture

Recognise the Rector Magnificus

Take a course at LAK

Go to lectures with a hangover

Have a picnic in the botanical gardens (= Hortus – admission is free for students)

Do some cramming in the library of another faculty so you don’t meet anyone you know

Get a mention/your picture in Mare

Go to Leiden University in The Hague

Work all night to finish a paper

Pass an exam without trying

Pass an exam after lots and lots of extremely hard work

Leiden

Stand there, cursing, at the bike storage at Central Station because your bike has been stolen by municipal officials or some other bike thieves

Speak Dutch with a genuine Leiden accent

Let yourself get locked into the Burcht/university building/… and spend the night there

Find at least ten ‘hofjes’ (courtyards); this could be during the annual hofjes concerts, but it’s also fun to discover them without using a map

Celebrate 3 October. Bonus points if it’s pissing down

Go on a safari to see the decorations in the Kooi district at Christmas or during the European/World Cup (football)

Take part in Orientation Week Leiden (OWL)

Row a boat around the canals

Visit the Meelfabriek before the redevelopment starts

Shout ‘Koekeroe’ (and find out what it means)

Take a selfie with a seagull

Grumble about tourists always taking selfies with gulls

Catch a glimpse of the Mayor

See the inside of the Pieterskerk

And Last But Not Least:

Write your name on the walls of the Zweetkamertje – which could be something of a challenge if you don’t actually graduate