Dear Wouter,

This is a thank-you and Christmas & new year greetings email from a previous LSE student taking Macroeconomics in ... . I am writing to express my thanks and best wishes to you. I completed my Bachelor in ... and then went to LSE for Master. It was a pity that I did not go to your office to have more talks, and later we turned to online teaching&exam due to the pandemic. But you have brought about profound influence on my life, with your unique teaching style and personal characters.

I realized why you kept asking questions to students in lecture, which is really a powerful method of inspiring students to think and explore, as I worked as ... . You encouraged us to find out the intuition behind math, and emphasized the importance of "problem-solving skills", while sharing with us about your life experiences -- their meanings gradually unfold to me with the passage of time. And I still remember the online forum and your questionnaire for course feedback. Inspired by you, I am also trying to convey such inspiration and encouragement ... .

I see your bravery by browsing your webpage and reading your stories, which inspires me to embrace courage. Being heterosexual, I get to know more about LGBTQ+ community from your webpage. And I think I can understand the feelings of being discriminated, given my Chinese face even in cities like ... and London. Even back in China, I still sometimes feel being judged and discriminated, ... . I very much get moved by the song "Something Inside So Strong". Courage is so precious. ... Since last year, I have started to think about who I am and the meaning of my life, which was very painful at the beginning of this self-exploration journey. ... I do hope I could be more courageous like you in my life. Your webpage is really valuable. I think my hope and courage for the unsettled future, my passion&love for education, greatly originate from educators like you. Thank you for being such a great educator. This means a lot to me.

As the year 2023 comes to a close, with my sincere wishes, I hope you have a joyful Christmas and a happy 2024.

Kindest regards,