Wow, week two was absolutely amazing. The beginning of the week threw me in at the deep end in the best possible way — not with time management, but rather survival mode. Lucent Renewables operates in a world I had essentially zero background in before walking through the door on Monday. Renewable energy sounds straightforward from the outside, but when you enter into the thick of it, it becomes obvious that you don’t even know where to begin asking questions. The first couple of days were genuinely overwhelming. New terminology, new processes, new faces — my notebook saw ink-filled pages right away, and I left the office each evening with at least five new things to research.

If this week taught me anything, it’s that being dropped into something unfamiliar means one thing: the learning curve is steep, and it moves fast. By Wednesday, the fog had started to lift. Conversations that went over my head on Monday were making sense in practice, and I went from writing post-discussion notes to actively contributing in real time. With only three coworkers, there is nowhere to hide — but also no reason to. Open communication and questions became my most valuable tools, consistent responsibilities started to take shape, and by the end of the week I felt like I had found a real presence within the company.

And then Thursday evening rolled around.

After a long, life-changing first week, some friends and I decided we needed to travel. By 7:45 on Friday, we were on the first of four overnight trains to Budapest. It was not glamorous — small stations, middle-of-the-night transfers, and the unique challenge of sleeping upright while holding all of your belongings — but it was also one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life, knowing a beautiful new city was waiting on the other end.

We arrived in the early hours, buzzing but sleep-deprived, with one problem: our hostel wouldn’t let us check in until 2pm. So we did the only reasonable thing and explored. We started on the Buda side — Fisherman’s Bastion and its sweeping panoramic views over the Danube, Saint Matthias’ Church with its extraordinary geometric tiled roof, and Buda Castle, still grand despite being under reconstruction. We then crossed the Chain Bridge on foot into a broader, busier Pest, taking in the Shoes on the Danube, the Parliament building, the Opera House, and St. Stephen’s Basilica. The biggest problem was that even the regular buildings felt like architectural masterpieces — there was beauty around every corner.

By 2pm, we had squeezed the full day of sightseeing into a single morning of no sleep, and immediately crashed for a couple hours. Around 4:30 we got back up, and got excited for our cruise along the Danube at 6:45, with consistent views of the city sky. The Parliament, Fisherman’s Bastion – everything looked more beautiful on the cruise. We finished the night with a calm couple of hours watching the various World Cup games and meeting fans from all over at our Hostel.

If there is one thing I keep coming back to though, its that we almost didn’t go to Budapest this weekend, and it was not because we didn’t want to, but rather because we felt there was time constraints.

Time management, at least the version I’m learning while abroad, isn’t about squeezing productivity into every hour. It is more about knowing which hours are going to matter the most, and being intentional with the ones that don’t carry as much responsibility. During the weeks, that means keeping a running list of tasks, checking in with the team consistently, and making sure days don’t bleed into the next. As previously mentioned, working with only three coworkers adds a level of accountability that cannot be tampered with.

I’ve learned, however, that the weekends are not a productivity window. Rather, the weekends are about recovery, perspective, and if lucky, four overnight trains to one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Protecting this time, rather than filling it with half-hearted, catch-up work, is what allows a transition back to the office on Monday to be one that is clear and productive for everyone involved.

Looking ahead, I’m going into this next week with a clearer sense of where I belong within Lucent Renewables and what I need to focus on. With week one being all about absorbing as much as possible, I would like this week to be about beginning to contribute more consistently and taking ownership of certain responsibilities rather than just responding to them.

And if another weekend trip presents itself last minute like this one to Budapest, I would like to think there will be no hesitation from my side, as this was an invaluable experience.

Cheers!