I wrapped up another week at Vencon presenting my mid-point progress on the Prospective Client Scoring Model. My fellow intern and I have been pouring everything we have into making the model as precise and useful as possible, driven by that mix of excitement and pressure to deliver something meaningful to the team. It’s been a week of refining metrics, balancing meetings, and more than a few late nights—one of which ended at sunrise in a café. Running on five hours of sleep a night (still recovering from last weekend’s 48-hour, no-sleep trip to Amsterdam) didn’t help, but I couldn’t bring myself to slow down.
There’s this constant tug-of-war between needing rest and wanting to make the most of my time abroad. By Friday, I was completely drained but restless. Instead of planning a weekend trip like usual, I went to the Turkish market with my roommates, wandered through the stalls, and later grabbed drinks with another intern. Around midnight, staring at the train schedule, I realized I had a couple of options left. Without thinking too hard, I just picked a direction and committed: Poland.
Within an hour, I was packed and on a train to Warsaw. The sky was already that soft early-morning blue as the train pulled out. I had assumed Poland would be small and easy to explore. I was wrong—in the best way.
Warsaw was sprawling and vibrant, with a sharp mix of sleek, modern architecture and the warm, storybook feel of its Old Town. I wandered through palaces and blooming gardens, down quiet streams that had me daydreaming about rowing through the countryside in wooden canoes. And the food—comforting, flavorful, and steeped in history—was easily the best I’ve had in Europe. I think I ate my weight in beet soup and anything involving cabbage.
Sleep-deprived but unwilling to slow down, I kept exploring—universities, tiny cafés, winding streets—and circled back to Old Town late at night just to see it glowing under the moonlight. At 2 a.m., I was back on a train heading north to Gdańsk, arriving just after sunrise.
Quiet, calm, and tucked against the Baltic coast, Gdańsk felt like an extension of Old Town but with its own maritime charm. I picked up amber jewelry (the region is the amber capital of the world) and had another round of incredible Polish meals. That same day, I decided to hop over to Sopot and Gdynia, two nearby coastal cities, and even switched my ticket to leave from Gdynia instead. My last Polish stop was Szczecin before heading back to Berlin. Somewhere near the border, German police boarded the train for passport checks—some unruly passengers weren’t so lucky. I rolled back into Berlin around 1:30 a.m., three days and five cities later, somehow ready for work on Monday.
Professionally, this week taught me a lot about balancing structure and adaptability. The scoring model forces me to think critically: which metrics really matter, how to quantify abstract ideas like “market potential,” and how to keep iterating without overcomplicating things. Presenting to the senior team was another big learning moment—organizing my thoughts clearly, explaining my process, and responding to feedback on the spot.
What’s surprised me most, though, is how much I’ve grown in the so-called “soft” skills. Time management has become second nature, not just for hitting deadlines, but for carving out space to rest, explore, and actually take in these experiences. Communicating clearly—especially in a workspace where not everyone’s first language is English—has taught me to be intentional and adaptable in how I interact with others.
Living and working abroad has been the ultimate crash course in adaptability and resilience. Whether it’s figuring out a train schedule in Polish, navigating cultural nuances in a professional setting, or finding a place to sleep on a spontaneous trip, I’ve learned to stay calm in uncertainty. If anything, I’ve realized that flexibility doesn’t mean being unprepared—you can be spontaneous and still take care of your responsibilities.
This internship is giving me more than just professional experience; it’s shaping how I approach challenges, opportunities, and people. Growth doesn’t happen in neat, predictable blocks. Sometimes it’s in an all-night work session at a café, a random passport check at the border, or a bowl of beet soup in a city you didn’t even plan to visit.
