Yeah. You don't want Arduino, you want PlatformIO and ESP32 or ESP8266. My 2c.

You are right. But you're doing it wrong. Imagine you're in deep dark forest, full of interesting plants and animals, funny-looking critters and a lot of trails appealing you to new adventures and to write new stories. If you stop to examine in detail each little bug and each and every trail, by the end of the day you'll be in the same situation in which you are now, tired, feeling down and questioning life's sense. And things will go worse each and every day. Do not do that. Enjoy the ride, dude. Follow the main path, when you'll see the road you've been meant to ride you'll know it. In the meanwhile, pass your exams, check a little what frameworks and meteoric languages appear and die around you, learn as much as you can and keep going. And make sure you're having fun all along. If it's not fun than it's not worth it.

Dude, if you're into programming for other reason than having fun you're in the wrong place. My 2c.

If it's not fun than it's not worth. Life is too short to waste it on unhappiness.

I am using Linode. I use a full blown (haha!) 5$/month Linux machine but it does ok for my needs