Twenty-Five

On Friday evening, around 4,000 Luxembourgish students gathered on the field next to the Bouillon car park for the annual Studentebal. This year was special: the 25th edition of an event that has become a fixture in the calendar of every Luxembourgish student who studies abroad.[1]

The Studentebal is organised by ACEL, the umbrella organisation for Luxembourgish student circles in European university cities. It marks the start of the summer, when students return home from their respective universities and reunite before scattering again in autumn. Drinks are provided by the different student circles, each serving signature cocktails inspired by their host cities. A Strasbourg circle pours something Alsatian, a Leuven circle offers something Belgian, and so on. The geography of Luxembourgish higher education, rendered in cocktail form.[1]

To celebrate the quarter-century milestone, organisers introduced a special drink: the "MirACEL" schnapps, named in honour of the anniversary. Whether it becomes a tradition or a one-off curiosity remains to be seen, but the name alone tells you something about the organisers' sense of humour.[1]

Twenty-five editions is a long run for any student event. Student organisations are inherently unstable: leadership changes every year, institutional memory is thin, and the people who organised the first edition in the early 2000s are now in their mid-forties. That the Studentebal not only survived but grew to 4,000 attendees says something about the particular culture of Luxembourgish student life, where the circles in foreign cities serve as a home away from home, and the summer reunion is a ritual that nobody wants to miss.

For one evening, a field next to a car park in Luxembourg City becomes the centre of the Luxembourgish student universe. Then everyone goes home, and next September, they scatter across Europe again. The cycle continues, as it has for twenty-five years.