Wait, Utrecht is considered a good university in Britain? Your top universities are most likely much better, Cambridge and Oxford at least and probably a lot of others. . The only Dutch university that does somewhat well in international rankings is Leiden, my university
As for the city, Utrecht is fucking awesome. Very nice old city center with a great vibe, nice for a history student too. Not an inbred student only city like some others, but enough student activity to keep things alive. Expensive to live in though. Dunno how you will be living or if anyone is showing you around, but student fraternities are quite a big thing in Dutchland and contacting one of them might help you in having a good time.
If you're actually trying to learn the language, you should probably ask people to talk Dutch to you, I've often heard the complaint from international students that they can't learn any Dutch because everybody just talks English to them. English level is pretty good especially in the student population, some with horrific accents though, at least in my ears.
