The American Studies program is really big. There will be a lot of other American students there from Colorado and Mississippi (and maybe somewhere else that I'm not remembering). You will have scheduled activities and tours that, I think, you will be required to attend. The thing that made me sad was watching the American Studies students walk around in herds. A lot of them didn't really seem to mix much with the British students and I think that they missed out on an enormous learning experience. I mean, I'm sure that they made good friends and sort of experienced the culture. But that just wasn't for me. So, my tip is - try to mix with a lot of different people.
The biggest advantage of the American Studies program (over the engineering exchange, which was a one person sort of thing with no program) is that they will give you lists of thing like what the different shops sell. So if you're looking for notebooks, or plates, or pillows you can just consult your list, instead of wandering aimlessly through the streets early Sunday morning only to find no people out and all of the shops closed.
The other thing you might want to look into, if you aren't planning on jetting off to the Continent every weekend, is joining a club. They had some cool rock climbing and surfing clubs while I was there (I was too lazy to actually join them, but when they'd talk about their weekend trips in class it sounded fun).
Hmmm, what else? Unless you are doing a full engineering curriculum (which it doesn't sound like) you will have LOTS of free time. Compared to US schools, they spend an unbelievably small amount of time actually in the classroom. Theory being that you are supposed to be reading and writing outside of class hours. Although, I don't know how many classes they'll put you in for the American Studies program.
Where are you going to be living?
