On my way Part I

So I've been away for a wee while. My Summer has officially begun.
Had my final exam on Thursday and then my Mum arrived in Edinburgh. We had dinner at The Albanach, which I'd been recommended by a friend. The food was good...when it arrived. This is why I have no pictures. The food took FOREVER to arrive; we knew what we wanted so ordered almost immediately, but the food took 45 minutes. I was in physical pain from hunger by the point the food arrived (I hadn't eaten since before my exam (about 12:45) and it was  about 20:00 when we arrived at the restaurant). The waiter said our order had got crossed with someone elses. Not good. Food was nice though. My Mum & I shared a Balmoral Chicken & a haggis, neeps & tatties. Good Scottish fare. I felt I needed to eat Scottish food considering I'd just finished half of my degree in a Scottish university. Only 2 years to go!

The next day we headed to St. Andrews, very slowly, along the Fife Tourist Trail.

This is going over the Forth Road Bridge (the car one). It felt like we were driving into the clouds.

 We accidentally headed down a cul de sac, but this beach was at the end so was very worth the detour.

 This view is back looking at the Forth Road Rail Bridge, and Edinburgh is in the very far background.

 There were so many of these snails on the beach. They're alive, don't worry.

 Here's me, being a tourist.

I took SO many photographs this will need to be done in parts. So this concludes the first installment.

If you people be ballin' then boy I must be FIFA

Currently I have the song Miami 2 Ibiza by Tinie Tempah & Swedish House Mafia in my head. I don't know why, I don't think I've listened to it for a while. I guess it could have been playing in the background at the gym, but yeah.

Anyway this post is just to say, I'm in my final stretch for exams, 5 days and I'm done! SO EXCITING, but can't get too excited because I have to study still.

Do you ever get to that point where you feel like you've studied all that you can and that you're just going around in circles. I'm getting there. Although post-optimality analysis is currently hindering my understanding so if you know anything about this or know anyone that does...hook a sister up.

Also something exciting happening this weekend (tomorrow) and you might find out about it if it works.

That probably makes no sense. All will become clear.

But you didn't have to go so far

You may have noticed in my profile description that it says I just want to see the world. Well, I do. So recently I've been looking up ways to do this without spending a fortune, which as a student I do not have. So here's four websites that have caught my fancy recently. I'm not saying that I'll use these and I've not used them yet, however, they provide a more feasible way of travelling. So here goes, kind of a note to self.

Websites for travelling on a low (student) budget:

1. Workaway
This website lets you search by country for hosts to stay with who require you to do a bit of work in exchange for board (sometimes food too). The opportunities range from babysitting to farming to painting, for example. There's loads of choices and I like how there are reviews left on the hosts and by the hosts, so you get further insight into the experience by those who've actually experienced it.
It was also reviewed on The Guardian's website.

2. House Carers
This is house sitting, on a global scale. Most houses have pets to look after though, so if you're not the most animal loving person, this probably isn't ideal. However, the lengths of stay range from a few days, to six months plus so if you want to travel, work and truly get to know a place like the locals, I would think this would be great.

3. Airbnb

I LOVE this site, you can create wishlists and I currently have 10. These do cost money though, not time, HOWEVER you can find some really cheap places to stay which look amazing. There's also reviews on many of the rooms/flats/houses/villas so you can get a better idea of what its like (I realise photos can be deceiving). In addition, because you can rent a whole house or flat its ideal for travelling with friends. Be aware though, some places charge extra per additional person after a certain number, so just make sure you read through properly. There's also etiquette associated with this site, but maybe I'll do a post about that later.

4. Staydu

Very similar to Workaway, however has additional options of staying for free, staying by working or paying to stay, which is cool . On cold Edinburgh days when I was in the library last November writing essays this website got me through, just imagining the things I could do and the places I could see in the world.

So have a browse, be inspired, let me know if you know of any other sites similar or different, yet appropriate still for the poor student with a desire to see the world.