In the city center, at six in the morning, laughter echoes through the still quiet streets. Groups of students gather at the entrance of Demos, on the steps of SSRE, or hop on their bikes to ride to the society of the Eindhoven Studenten Corps.

Three friends bump into each other by chance and exchange stories. “I had poffertjes and orange juice spiked with liquor at E.S.C.,” says Duco. His intro dad Ruben just came from SSRE, “and that was great, too.” Petran proudly shows he can still spell his own name. He’s eager to catch up with his group, already heading off toward Demos. Still, they pause for a photo. “Wow, that’s a great shot! Put it online right away, forever and ever!”

In front of Hubble we run intro dad Maarten, aunt Isa and kiddo Jens. They spent the night in town and now want to head inside Hubble, but Jens can’t get in without a wristband. Cursor’s reporter knows the feeling all too well. “Pulling the all-nighter was a lot of fun, but staying awake is getting harder now.” Still, they’re determined to make it to Intermate’s breakfast. “At seven o’clock we’ll be allowed into Atlas.”

Cultural associations Knights of the Kitchen Table, Footloose, Quadrivium, Doppio, Dekate Mousa, and Kinjin are still welcoming everyone to Luna Underground. “As long as there are participants, we’ll keep going,” co-organizer Yannick Dubbelman said beforehand. “There’s only one rule: if you fall asleep, you’re out.”

Tim Heiszwolf from the Knights has been keeping count. “At the peak, early in the evening around 9:10 p.m., there were 144 intro students at the Knights. And together, the other associations had another 36.” He estimates that about eighty students pulled the all-nighter at Luna Underground.