Jet Lag Returns to Campus

One of the highlights of Friday evening was the return of Jet Lag, a band that started right here on campus more than 20 years ago.

If you were around in the early 2000s, you might remember them. The story began in 2002, when Serkan Kulaksiz (PhD 2012) and Luis Escobedo (BA, ISS, 2004) helped set up the university’s first music room, got their hands on the first instruments and even played an early concert before Jet Lag officially existed.

Later that year, Serkan, Luis, Camilo Ordoñez (BSc 2005) and Clemens Noelke (BSc 2004) became the original members of Jet Lag. They wrote and recorded their first three songs — Soundcheck, Digital Future and Cleansed and Spaced — and what started as a group of students making music soon became the first rock band on campus.

The story continued with Arnab Dewan (BA 2007) joining the band. Together, they wrote and recorded three more songs — The HB Experience, The Neos and Rage of Warriors — before releasing their first album, Affirmative Action, in 2004.

Jet Lag went on to perform in different parts of Bremen and Flekke, Norway, with other sessions and recordings taking place in Zagreb and Melbourne. But like so many university stories, the music eventually gave way to careers, new countries and new chapters.

More than two decades later, the members of Jet Lag are now spread across Germany, Romania, Canada, Denmark and Norway.

And yet, the friendships never really disappeared.

César Escobedo (BA, ISS, 2006) and Luis are brothers, and the wider group has remained close over the years, with their families continuing to meet. In June 2026, most of the former band members even reunited in Bucharest, where César and Luis performed with two of their newer musical projects, The Cherry Bunch and The Wolf of Wolves.

Then came Homecoming.

For the first time in more than 20 years, six alumni from different graduating classes came back together to play as Jet Lag: Serkan Kulaksiz on drums, Luis Escobedo on lead vocals, Camilo Ordoñez on lead guitar, Arnab Dewan and César Escobedo on bass, and Serdar Özcan (BA, IPH, 2008) on drums.

The concert also brought another piece of their musical history onto the stage. Arnab, César and Serdar, who had their own band together, got their own moment during the set.

And then, more than 20 years after it all began, they were back where the story started — playing together on the same campus where a few students once set up a music room, picked up some instruments and decided to start a band.

From the first music room in 2002 to the Homecoming stage in 2026. Some stories really do find their way back home.