From city of Sun to Foggy Albion!
Travelling and learning are those two things inspire me the most in my life. Recently, I had a great experience of both in a city of famous red busses and iconic telephone booths. Yes, the city of my English book, the homeland of Sherlock Holmes and the greatest Queen rock band that I am a great fan of. And finally, the city of real Queen: the only lady in the world, who can travel all over the world without a passport! Yeah, that’s true. And yes, I am talking about a London, the city that welcomed me and our Armenian group of 5 members last month to have a super training of ‘’International Leadership course in Social Action and Entrepreneurship’’. The course was held in a typical British learning environment, at Brunel University in London.
At the course we were full of seminars and workshops dedicated to leadership and management from ‘’The Transition curve’’ to ‘’Tuckman’s model of team dynamics’’. Despite our busy schedule and overloaded agenda of various activities /film making, teamwork, personal tasks, entertainment, London time/ the process was more enjoyable for me. We had an opportunity for 9 days long to be in training of qualified trainer, senior consultant of Executive Coaching and Leadership Paul van Casteren and sharing our ideas, have a international dilogue with the young leaders from different continents: Africa, North America, Europe, Asia. Can you imagine? And that’s all in the same place: motivated young people, fresh ideas, strong experiences behind and a lot of fun.
My participation of the training had its goal. In all my activities in Armenia /Social Action and Entrepreneurship often I should take a role of leader to initiative and make decisions. The main point of my participation is to listen to other approaches and level up myself and my leadership style.
It’s impossible to write down everything. But there is a thing I can’t stop talking about. Yeah, it’s weather in London. Despite of the thing I looked like an onion dressed in layers, I enjoyed a changeable weather. Yes, I really enjoyed it. It can change 10 times in 5 minutes. Seriously! There is no point that London historically has a reputation for ‘’Foggy Albion’’ for ages. From the other hand there is no bad weather, only wrongly chosen clothes. I chose the proper outfit. Now I have a full guide for those who plan a trip to a city of old and new where traditions smoothly meet fashion!
Asya Sepkhanyan
I have decided to use the unique opportunity given by Future in our hands NGO and participate in one of the most interesting projects of young community leaders and social action promoters, being sure that this project will offer unbeatable prospects and will serve a most solid background for my career. The project was held in London from June 20-29, with professional trainers, famous speakers, specialists and experienced participants. The program was very intensive, innovative, with different teambuilding exercises, productive master classes, informative and practical workshops. The Armenian team not only got and shared excellent practice and knowledge but also got fun with other participants, admiring the beauty of London and cultural exchange. We bring with us great experience, unforgettable memories, good friends and new knowledge, being sure that we can use all new gained information and practice in our country for our community. I would like to express my gratefulness to Future in our Hands NGO and my Armenian team, for this opportunity, experience and great moments.
Mariam Melyan
