My name is Hedvig Árvai (shortly Hédi) and I just arrived to Finland 2 days before the last International Coaching Certification course. I came from Hungary to be a trainee at Growthroom for the next 3 months. At first the plan was that I will arrive on the 1st of November but Anna-Riikka told me that if I can come earlier I can attend the last coaching course and I can also help a little in the organization of the course too. So I made up my mind, changed flights and arrived on time for the course.
I was very excited and also a little flustered at first. But by the end of the weekend it came clear that attending this course was one of the best decisions of my life. I stayed at Anna-Riikka Kärnä’s place until I got my apartment and she is a very open-minden, helpful, supportive woman and I feel very lucky that I could have met her.
At the course I also got to know Pauliina Hallama who is an excellent coach and trainer and she had a tireless energy during the whole weekend which energized all of the participants too. And we needed the energy because it was a 30 hour long course only for 3 days. Still time flew away very quickly.
I just finished my master’s degree from psychology so I already had the opportunity to take part in a counselling psychology course and a coaching course too, but this one was exceptional. The theory was very clear and understandable and bit by bit I started to feel like I’m becoming a real coach. And this happened unconsciously!
Also I never participated in a course which had so many practical tasks. Whenever we started to feel tired from the theory, we had to do an interesting practice in groups. This was also a good way to talk to each other and get to know each other. I also took part in the practices because there was always someone who didn’t have a pair. I met likeminded people who once had the same problem as me (moving to a foreign country alone and feeling a little lost) and people who share the same passion: helping others through self-development.
By the end of the third day we became a real group, everyone knew each other, had a very good time and were veeery tired but very happy. It was almost sad to say goodbye and everyone wanted to stay connected to the group. It was a very long time since the last occasion I felt the same connection to people and it was mesmerizing to watch how the participants became from strangers to friends. I hope that Pauliina and Anna-Riikka will find a way to continue this course some way. I also learned a lot from it and attending it was the best way to start my time here in Finland.
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