# My first Hackathon By [Madhav Goyal](https://paragraph.com/@madhavg) · 2022-05-21 --- I would have never thought even just a week ago that I would be 2000 miles away from my home and having the best time of my life with people I would meet just for a few days.That’s how I would describe my experience at the Solana hacker house in a few lines If I had to but a lot of stuff happened and experienced the world headfirst for the first time being alone and all on my own in the vast world.Lemme take you to the start of all this, I had just come back from my first meet-up and been trying to write some stuff in my journal sitting in the library when I hit upon a tweet about some event called hacker house which was happening in Bengaluru, Huh I thought “ How cool would it be if I could go there?” But I was pretty sure that I had no chance of going there so I just registered for it and forgot for a few days. Then I shared the idea with a dao named padawan dao thinking I could only go if they could sponsor me and waited for their response for a week to hear no at the end. I hadn’t even shared the idea with my parents yet that there was an event happening in Bengaluru where I wanted to go , But after getting disappointed from padawan dao I told them about it and the first thing they said was “ When are you booking the flights”. I was so astonished that my parents were encouraging me who had never traveled alone to go to one of the dream cities of every techie in India. They told me to just book the flights and later see about the finances so I did. I used up my money from bounties to book flights and then reached out to my internet family the Dream DAO for funding and as I knew even before reaching out to the champions they funded me happily to go to my first conference. I truly love them all the way! They were one of the reasons that gave me hope that no matter what I could go to places that empower me in web3 and not worry about other things. Just wanted to give a big shout-out to Shaan one of the Dream DAO champions who became a brother to me, QZ one of the most intelligent people I know, and Chauncey the best founder in web3 for funding me. Even though I had the money I booked a room and shared it with 2 other people I met on the internet not knowing that these guys would become my family for the coming week. On the 10th may I boarded my first flight ever to the dream city of Bangalore, it was a different experience I kinda started to think better without the range of the internet. When I landed there was a surprise waiting for me, due to overdemand for hacker house the first day was full and they were not taking in more people, I was kinda pissed that I had traveled all the way and won’t be able to get in. But looking back and connecting the dots, it couldn’t have gone any better. Knowing that I won’t be able to attend the first day of hacker house I found out that some other folks who were not able to get in were gathering and hosting their own event so I just went with the flow. Within 10 mins of checking into my room, I left for a cafe where I would make my first friends in Bangalore. From Starbucks, we went to a place where a meet-up by Buildspace had been organized for people who were not able to get into the hacker house within an hour! I just tagged Along and went with the flow and tasted how awesome the whole week was gonna be. Meet some of the most awesome people and ate good food at the meet-up. Leaving it felt like The next few days would be sound compared to today but boy was I wrong. After hearing my story One of the people from Solana labs reached out to me and assured me that they would get me in for sure tomorrow. I was happy getting assurance from good people. So next day to be sure I with my roommates/ new brothers went to the hacker house 2 Horus early to find a queue of hackers already standing, it’s so inspiring to see so many young folks trynna make it and working hard. I haven’t traveled abroad so dont know much but Indian people are hungry to make it! ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/72587bfbcf159c9a7e2c4f812a8ea7b526ba31a205f82a8af466b8104d389187.jpg) _Me trynna hack!_ It was awesome to get in and sit down at the table at the hacker house felt inspiring to a young builder like me. The person from Solana I had talked to reached out to me and we had a chat outside the venue and had one of the best talks! You just feel comfortable around some people. I learned and lot from them and was inspired by their kindness toward me. I met them quite a few times over the next few days and learned a lot of life lessons and realized that there nothing can match the in-person vibe and energy you get. They became kind of a mentor figure to me to look towards and so much grateful to them for that, never gonna forget it! The next few days just got better with time and more crazy! I met the most awesome people I had ever met and was constantly inspired to build new things and just keep working. I had reached out to a person on telegram after seeing their nft and met them irl, they were the super-connector and had a really good vibe. We talked for a long time and they taught me a lot about startups and venture capitalism. Most of the people I became friends with over the next few days were introduced to me by this person! Just awed by how great some people could be and still talk to you like you are two good old friends. They were one of the biggest reasons that this trip turned out to be the best one. Just writing this makes me think of how much goodness is in this world and I am nothing without other people, just constantly feeling grateful to the people who made my first hackathon what it was. ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/3f63136b9f3c0d4caeafe8fff2cfbad15692c2a1d4214e7e218f0f7c2abad8db.jpg) _Me and my roommates/bros_ The best thing about hacker house was that you could just say hi and start chatting about stuff with folks which could turn into really great friendships. It was totally new for someone like me who had really few friends in his hometown and near to zero social life but made new friends every hour at the hacker house and tagged along with them to places in a totally new city. I became friends with a lot of people from different backgrounds and learned the most about life I had ever. Helped other people start their web3 journeys and learned to carve my own path, shared my imposter syndrome with other people, and got encouraged by them. You never knew when and where a great conversation and friendship was awaiting you.I was journaling one day at the hotel and started a conversation with someone about pure mathematics and talked to them for nearly an hour, have never felt this kind of connection ever the one I felt at hacker house.Went to some awesome parties and ate the best food of my life. Just tried to soak the energy of the city which had the most talented tech people in the country. Bangalore is the best city I have ever visited, It is not a city just buildings inside a large forest that’s how green it is. I have been to a  few big cities and never felt this comfortable and at ease ever. Even though most of the people there don’t speak my language it doesn’t seem to be an issue. I am pretty sure Bangalore is the place I live in India when I grow up. It just inspires you to do the next big thing and still has one for the most grounded people you meet. There is just so much innovation and cool stuff happening in one area let alone the city.\\ ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/8d5f9e25b29feb248ec8b085d50bf407a6bbe88ddeca40377afea67b7c5e9d07.jpg) Maybe everything is better when you have friends with you, I with my roommates went on a long night walks around the city without any second thought because you just tend to have a good time with the people you like. I can proudly say that Solana Hacker House was the best week of my life! Being at the center where some of the most brilliant people from all over India had gathered, I was assured that the future is bright and we just need to encourage people who are curious to do so. PS: I know it has been a long time since I shared anything but I this month has been the craziest one in my life yet! Just wanted to give shout to a few people I didn’t mention Ishan and Karan for being the best roomies, Ujjwal for sharing our pain together on jee, Fenil for helping me with imposter syndrome, Kash for getting me into superteam! , Parug for acting like a big bro, Dream DAO for having my back and to everyone who made this possible! If you wanna show a gesture of appreciation buy me a book at [https://www.buymeacoffee.com/madhavgoyal](https://www.buymeacoffee.com/madhavgoyal) or airdrop me some eth or sol at madhavg.eth/sol! --- *Originally published on [Madhav Goyal](https://paragraph.com/@madhavg/my-first-hackathon)*