St. Andrews

I am potentially thinking of going to St. Andrews starting in September next year or putting it as my insurance choice.
However, I am slightly put off by the term dates with only 2 semesters and no Easter break but then a massive summer. (I know as it’s a Scottish uni it’s different to English ones)
Because it’s so far away it seems quite daunting to spend so long away from home especially as it starts so early in September! Given it’s isolation spending so long there isn’t too appealing either.
From anyone else’s experiences I’d love to know what that’s like/ how flexible the uni is in terms of missing term time at the end of term?
According to their website, the term ends so close before Christmas… are the term dates as rigid in reality or is it very dependable on the course?
It seems strange also that there are exams so late before Christmas.
I’m curious to know also when most people would go home for Christmas?
Any response to any of these Q. would be much appreciated

There is an independent learning week in October. You'll probably have some work set but quite a few people go home or travel that week. The Christmas end date is the last possible date for exams but you might finish earlier. The exam timetable comes out in October. Last year my daughter was home by 13th December. There is a Feb week off and at Easter there are two revision weeks which some people spend at home.

Thank you! That's useful to know. Do you know what dates the easter revision weeks were? I'm curious to see if there is a discrepancy between the dates they put on their website.