“Just another influx of people going on ski holidays”

Vacation-stayers on St Andrew’s jet-setters

Amidst the flurry of sun-filled social media stories and snarky inside-joke captions, it's easy to forget about those who stayed behind for spring vacation. Instead of jetting off to beaches and cities, they spent their week in the shadow of the cathedral ruins on a much more windy coast.

For some, travelling to mainland Europe at any opportunity is a guaranteed aspect of university life here, with flights costing a fraction of what some international students would be paying to travel from home. For others, though, money is a sensitive topic. Life skills can be learnt in any country, and budgeting is key — especially for students.

I talked to Nico Saintfort, a first-year from Miami, who was reluctant to travel again after visiting Oslo last semester: “I came here to get a really good education, and it seems people just came here to travel. Their grades are not the best [...] They've got no plans in the future and they're pretty much just jobless.”

“I think they [travel] because they have the money — a lot of money,” he added. “I've overheard some people in MacIntosh [Hall] say how they asked for an extra thousand pounds this week for allowance.”

Eleanor White, a third-year from Berkshire, England, also thought of the logistics of travelling: “It takes me eight, nine hours to travel back home by train, it's expensive, and also I had an essay due that I felt I wouldn't be able to do at home.” 

Amirah Khatoon, a first-year medic, agreed. “There was no option for me to go anywhere.”

Saintfort highlighted the importance of staying for his own peace of mind. “Some people left Thursday night and skipped Friday's classes, then came back Monday morning, and I guarantee they got no work done [...] I can only imagine what's going through their head right now.”

White and Khatoon both would have traded their week for time at home if they were able. Saintfort, however, made £400 from working over vacation week and wants to spend that money to travel. I asked where he wanted to go. “Pretty much anywhere that's the cheapest. I look on Ryanair and I'm like, ‘What is the cheapest flight?’”

The element of privilege associated with these trips was not lost during our conversations. TUI, a tourism company, estimates an average of £1,000 in spending money alone for a four-person, five-day trip to Lisbon. “There's a certain level of privilege to be able to, as a group, go on holiday abroad,” White told me. “It gives them a level of prestige or experience that you might feel like you don't have if you haven't been able to experience all of those things.”

Of course, these trips do not come without their own online souvenirs: Instagram posts. Khatoon didn’t think her fellow students’ glossy feeds told the full story about their trips abroad: “I don't think it's an accurate depiction of someone's life, you can't tell anything.”

Perhaps the St Andrews stayers were the ones we should envy — not only did they catch up on work whilst saving money, but they avoided the stress of scheduling every minute of their day to finish their spring break bucket list. 

The peace of the town was a welcome break from how cramped it can usually feel too. “It’s quite a peaceful time, just a time to refresh,” White told me. “Sometimes you forget that you're living in St Andrews, and it's quite a nice place.”

None of the three that I talked to regretted staying in St Andrews. Focussing on her studies made it worthwhile for Khatoon: “It was quite nice that I was able to get on with that.”

The main benefit of staying behind during vacation week, according to White? “You can definitely get a seat in the library.”

Collage: Creative Commons