Yes, by using batches the loss already significantly decreases after the first 3 epochs.
Train Samples = 18756
Train Batch Size = 16
Number Train Batches = 1172
Test Samples = 4689
Epoch 29
Test Loss 0.1350  (on all 18756 samples)
Validation Loss 0.3397  (on all 4689 samples)
I will now start playing with the model hyper-parameters.
Thanks!