'Growth' has been a frequent topic, both personal growth and the growing numbers of students at TU. And I'd like to continue in this vein this one last time. You've already read about the ups and downs I experienced s in the IPO building as my graduation approached, the time I spent in Indonesia, and how afterwards I started my PhD at TU Delft. How I was tied up in knots before I started working really hard and came through smiling. And now, now that I am much stronger than I've ever been, it is time to let go of something ‘old’ I've been holding on to. After all, the way I see it, growth also involves letting go.

Here in Delft, whenever something associated with Eindhoven or TU/e would come up, I always talked proudly about ‘we’, because it still felt that way. Strange when you think about it, because although I still live in Eindhoven, Delft is where most of my life now happens. So it feels like it's time to let go, to embrace the ‘we’ in Delft.

Much has changed, as you can see, but some things don't change. I still think mint tea is greatly overrated, the soups in Delft, like those in Eindhoven, are much too expensive, and other commuters still irritate the crap out of me. Perhaps one day these things too will change, but perhaps some things don't need to change.

TU/e and Cursor, it has been a great honor and a great pleasure to write for you for all these years.