Attention college students going abroad this semester. If you are heading from Athens, Georgia, to Athens, Greece, you may want to check out the site couchsurfing.com.
 

Founded by Casey Fenton in 2003, the website matches travelers with a local’s “couch” in another city, while the couch may not always be a literal couch – it could be a futon, bed or even floor to crash on.
 

On his site, Fenton explains his inspiration for the project:

It solidified when I decided to take a weekend trip to Iceland one May. I'd gotten a cheap web-special from Boston to Iceland on a Monday and would fly that Friday. I only had one problem though. What would I do when I got there? Stick it out in a hotel? A hostel? I thought about the idea of contacting someone on the Internet and seeing if I could hang out with them and maybe sleep at their house.

You see it’s not all about saving money, though it does save you a lot of money and aren’t we all looking to keep our hard-earned cash, or at least spend it on alcohol not accommodations? But Fenton really created couchsurfing.com to offer experiences. The site connects you with locals who can show you a city in a way you would miss out on as just a simple tourist, and if you're nervous, you can forge relationships online before committing to the couch.
 

According to Time magazine, the site has nearly 470,000 users and these members are located all over the globe, so no matter where you go, it’s likely there’s a couch for you to surf. There’s the minor issue of safety, but couchsurfing.com seeks to make the project as safe as possible by verifying members.
 

And while safety is a valid concern, going through couchsurfing.com is probably more legit than when you inevitably go home with some stranger in a bar who’s bought you a few shots anyway.