While the English culture and English language (NOT American English) is something very different and takes a bit of getting used to, studying mathematics at the University of Warwick (pronounced War-ick) is in no way a disadvantage. In fact studying abroad in England exposed me many areas of math not available on the undergraduate level at Cornell. They teach introductory courses like Number Theory, Combinatorics, and a computer course dealing with fractals, randomness and determinism, called Modelling Nature's Nonlinearity. On a more advanced level there are courses like Fluid Dynamics which deal with the theoretical/mathematical side of describing flows, from classic airfoil theory to boundary layer problems, and Catastrophe Theory, which works toward classification of the seven 'elementary catastrophes'--the changes that can occur in typical families of functions with no more than five parameters. For a Cornell student going into their junior year some of each of the three different year's courses would be just about the right level. Most English universities have three year programs, but to understand more about the difficulty level of these courses one must first understand the difference between a typical university student in England and America.
In England the sequence of education is very different. For most English students, two years before they apply to a University at age 15 or 16 they begin to specialize in certain areas of their choice. They attend school for two more years learning only three or four different subjects. Then they take what is called the 'A-level' examinations; these exams, taken in the areas they have specialized in, determine almost completely which Universities they can get into. There is no such thing as a general admission, they are accepted for study in a certain department and only rarely can they change this department once at the University. Once at the Unversity, the department has a set of core courses the students have to take each year and only one or two choices. The result is a very structured curriculum with relatively few choices about the courses taken and when they are taken, but it is possible avoid the imposed structure.
As an international student one can pick and choose to meet one's own needs and interests. It is an ideal situation for taking subjects that aren't offered at Cornell, but one has to remember that these students have specialized in Math for two years, so they are, for the most part, correspondingly more advanced and mature in mathematics. As a Cornell undergraduate in math the level of course work at the first year level isn't much different than a typical 200 or 300 level class, but the major difference that will surprise any American student is how the courses are examined.
The academic year at most English Universities is divided into three ten week terms. The math department offers only courses that run one term in length. During the first two terms I took, and most all math students took, eight different term long courses, but during the terms I was not required to hand in any work. There were problem sets assigned in each course, but none were graded or even looked at by anyone. During the terms you have complete freedom, nothing is due and no attendance is taken, it is solely upto you to do the assigned work and seek out any assistance you might need, from your personal tutor, a professor assigned to you at the start of the year. This gives you plently of time to participate in any of the 250 society and club activities, from any kind of sport (martial arts, American football, ballroom dancing, cricket, rounders, bungee jumping, windsurfing...) to the real ale society (which sponsored a real ale festival which featured over a hundred different kinds of beer), but it also leaves a terrible, pressurized crunch time; final exams are 100% of your grade. The finals are not appended to the end of each term either, they are all taken the third term. During the third term I took one course, as did most math students, and spent the rest of time studying for the other eight courses that I would be examined in towards the end of the third term over a three week period. This is definitely the worst feature of the English University system, but it didn't ruin my experience abroad. There is much more to learned than just academics, one learns firsthand about a different culture. While the math courses at Warwick are extremely well taught, diverse and interesting, they don't make a major part of the whole experience. One really learns the most just living among the English and traveling.
Between each of the three terms there is a four or five week break in which to explore the rest of Europe. I traveled by train all over, from Morrocco to Greece to Scotland and found the experience indescribable. Traveling on one's own or with friends for the first time is an incredible confidence building and learning experience. My adventures and experiences, both academically and culturally, studying abroad cannot be summed up, it would be impossible to communicate what I learned about the English and their culture, let alone what I learned about myself. The only way to really understand what I have experienced is to go abroad.