Dear Soaristas,

We hope you enjoyed your last days in Bruges! Time flies so fast and this week it was time for our promotion to say goodbye to the College. At the beginning of this year, the Rector called us a resilient promotion and we certainly proved her right. If anyone had told us last summer how this academic year would unfold, we probably would not have believed it.

It is natural to look back on the year that is almost over and think about all the good times or even about everything we missed due to restrictions. We definitely didn't have an ordinary College experience, but we had our unique experience. It was difficult for many, but it made us stronger. Moreover, we can be certain that Rector Mogherini will never forget her first promotion.

We definitely left our mark at the College. Unlike other promotions, we certainly spent a lot more time indoors, so our residences became the centres of our universes in the absence of opportunities to meet outdoors in bars or cafes. It’s hard to even recall the beginning of last semester when all of us would sit together at the canteen tables.

Still, the College remains a once-in-a-lifetime experience and the summer edition of La Voix du Collège invites you to celebrate this extraordinary academic year with us. We decided to create a collage of memories about our time together. Students from all departments wrote about their experience at the College. Additionally, Rector Mogherini kindly accepted to share her thoughts now that her first promotion is about to leave the College.

We might be saying goodbye to the College, but we will certainly meet again. The hunt for traineeships and jobs in Brussels is in full force and many will probably replace the Bruges bubble with the Brussels bubble. Until then, be sure to enjoy the summer with your friends and family and we hope that you will find some time for a well-deserved break!

The LVC team of the Soares Promotion would like to thank all students who contributed to this memory book, especially since we know how busy everyone was during the exam period. We could not have done this without you. We would also like to thank Rector Mogherini for her support throughout the academic year. Finally, thank you to all Soaristas, it was a pleasure to write for you!