A Conference For Parents & Children: Fill & Download for Free

I had my college education from a college at Pune, India. My four friends and I went to Goa after completing our final year examinations. We all spent four years outside our home town. So after coming back from Goa it was fun for few days at home. We had good food, good and clean place to sleep, and many other good things. After about two weeks we all started missing our college life badly.We all decided to visit Pune and stay there for a week. But the problem was how to take permission from our parents? As we have just been to Goa before 15 days. We planned something. We made a college letterhead and wrote a letter to ourselves.There is a national pharmacy event and a conference for a week, different companies are going to visit the campus and if they prefer they will recruit some students. The fees for the event is 10,000INR to be submitted while registration.We sent this letter's four copies to one of our friends at Pune. He sent us back through courier at our adresses. Our parents read the letter and insisted us to attend this event.Plan was a big success. We went to Pune for a week with a good amount of money and enjoyed.We also brought certificates for attending the event.

I had a kid who had relatively minor behavioral issues, really just knucklehead teenager stuff. But his parents were super-involved and had requested daily emails. So I told them what was going on - again, little things like talking out of turn, that sort of thing. They demanded a conference. I thought it was odd as the kid’s grades were fine and his behavior not out of the ordinary.They demanded the assistant principal, resource specialist and counselor be present for the conference. Again…odd.Dad presented me with a pile of printouts on how to be a better teacher. Methods I could use and research. He gave me a book on growth mindset so I would be more positive. He interrupted his wife at every opportunity. He got so enraged he beat his fists on the desk and and yelled. He got teary and cried.I was beyond words. Remember, we’re in a conference with a kid whose biggest offense was being a minute or two late to class. I had never even raised my voice to the kid, and probably would never have reported his behavior except his parents requested I did.It was an ongoing scenario all semester.

Not sure if this can be called a hack but I traveled to Europe five times in a period of ten months on fully sponsored trips as a student. I didn't spend a single penny on hotels or flight tickets. That was the most extraordinary year of my life. Long version below.In early 2009 after my 7th semester at BITS, I had decided to intern for a semester at a small renewable energy financial data research company now owned by Bloomberg and figure life out without the pressures of classes and exams. Sometime during that semester I decided that I just had to travel to Europe before graduating. The problem was that I was a poor student and there was no way my parents would fund an expensive holiday. So I began to figure out the best ways of getting there without having to buy a flight ticket.Trip 1:SwitzerlandI found out that there was the St Gallen Symposium which would sponsor my entire trip to Switzerland if I got selected in an essay competition whose theme was Revival of Political and Economic Boundaries. The topic was incomprehensible for an undergrad biological sciences student but after 3 months of intense reading and research I understood economic theories and political systems well enough to write an essay which got me selected.I was shocked and elated when I got the acceptance email and was even more elated when I realized that the free trip was really a free trip and not a sham. Seriously.I had five incredible days at the life changing conference which had some extraordinary students from 80 countries interested in economics or business. After the conference I spent ten more days couch-surfing my way around in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany.Trip 2:DenmarkJust within a few months after my Switzerland trip I was yearning to go back to Europe again and I figured that there had to be more conferences which would sponsor me. I found one which selected individuals who could blog regularly about environment and energy problems. This was a cake walk because I was obsessed with environmental problems and my internship was in renewable energy financial research. After a short interesting conference at Copenhagen, I spent a few days traveling around with my sister and a friend who had also been selected.Trip 3:Denmark again and SwedenThis trip was as a part of a youth delegation to the much hyped UN climate change conference in 2009 called COP-15. When I got selected for this, I felt like I was living in a dream because I couldn't believe that I could really have pulled off a third fully funded trip.Extraordinary conference with citizens from all the UN member countries. Hung out and partied with passionate activists and hippies. Spent a week at the conference and another week after that traveling in Sweden.Trip 4:BelgiumThis was for a conference on impending challenges of clean water. By this time it was no longer a challenge to go through the process of applying for a sponsorship to attend a conference.Trip 5:ItalyThe last fully sponsored trip was for a conference for youth leaders in a tiny Italian town. I couldn't travel too much because I was back in college with limited holidays.End result:I traveled in seven countries for forty five days in a period of ten months and spent ~USD 1000 in total from my own pocket while benefiting from sponsorship worth about USD 6000. I met the most extraordinary and interesting people from over 100+ countries. I am a facebook message away from finding a roof in 35-40 countries. My perspective about the world, its problems and its people expanded beyond what I had read before. Suddenly Africa wasn't just Africa but a continent with distinctly different countries, cultures and languages.The above conferences tended to be attended by passionate people with causes bigger than themselves, so most individuals I met had a rich and interesting life which was mind expanding for a twenty year old introvert who had lived his entire life in just one city. Every single night was an international party night, what else would you expect when you get young folks in a new city. :) These people also tended to be a lot more fun, open minded and happier in general than my regular friends. I was surprised that couchsurfers would open their homes and kitchens to people they've only exchanged emails with.This adventure changed me and my elusive life goals were suddenly clear as day. If you are a student, strongly suggest you try this hack at home. :)