Examinations and the Leiden Museum Night: ‘Nagging is for wimps'

On June 30th the Leiden museums (rather than the Leiden bars) will form the stage for a summer-time Saturday night. There is plenty to do at the Leiden Museum Night, from watching a tattoo at the Anatomical theatre to abseiling in the Pieterskerk. The event is organised by students, and if you buy your ticket in advance you get a € 2.50 discount.

Tattooed in the Anatomical Theatre

Be ferried from museum to museum by special transport

Sabine Geeraets (third-year student of English Language and Literature) and Marieke Kortsmit (fifth-year student of Mathematics and Computer Science) can think of nothing else. When asked how much time the event is currently costing them, they answer with a deep sigh: ‘We are busy with it every moment of every day.’ Luckily the programme is now finalised. ‘What I find really cool is that someone will be tattooed all night at the Anatomical Theatre of the Boerhaave Museum,’ says Kortsmit. ‘And that tattooing is completely different from abseiling in the Pieterskerk, a Chinese dragon dance or Chris Zegers with his band, The Hudson Five.’

From 9 am to midnight in the University library

It turns out to be difficult to combine such a large-scale organisation with the examinations period. Kortsmit has a tight schedule: ‘I am at the University library from 9 am to midnight; I force myself to first study for two hours and then I can spend an hour organising things for the museum night, and so on.’

Luckily Geeraets’ examinations are now over. This is a good thing because since she is responsible for promoting the event, the last weeks are very busy for her. Nevertheless, neither of them is complaining. ‘It’s going well, nagging is for wimps.’

Major item in Leiden culture

A salsa workshop in the Hortus

They are positive about the collaboration with the museums. ‘It helps that the last three years were such a success; we are being treated as professionals,’ says Geeraets. ‘And we are also of course a major item among the Leiden cultural events,’ adds Kortsmit.

And yet this professional approach can sometimes be problematic, according to Geeraets. ‘People are phoning all the time with questions. I ask myself why they don’t save their questions up and just call me once a day!’

After-party

It’s exciting to see how the event will turn out. ‘My greatest fear is that it will pour with rain, or hail, or blow a gale. The kind of weather that means you wouldn’t dream of leaving your house. Or that the EC finals are suddenly moved to Saturday,’ says Kortsmit. ‘Luckily we have already sold a lot of tickets.’ They don’t feel proud yet. ‘We haven’t had time for it, we are too busy organising things.’

According to Kortsmit there will be plenty time for that once she makes it to the after-party and the event has turned out to be a resounding success. Geeraets agrees: ‘I am so looking forward to seeing people enjoying themselves. And of course I hope that everything turns out to be as much fun as we thought it would!’

Team Museumnacht 2012: Sabine and Marieke are in the front row, second and third from the right

Tickets

Leiden Museum Night: Saturday 30 June
Opening hours museums: 8 pm – 1 am
Tickets: € 12.50 (€ 15.00 on the night itself)

(12 June 2012 / Nelleke Groot, student of Journalism and New Media)