move from the midwest to london

I am a sophomore at a state school in Iowa, USA. After much thinking, I decided that life won’t wait for me to do the things I would like to do. Also, I’ve come to the realization that I really just need to take a major risk, do something stupid, something that could end up going horribly wrong.
Anyway, what’s going to happen: my former roomate and I are planning on moving to London, UK sometime around labor day. Until then, I will be getting necessary documents (visa, etc) and raising funds for this endeavor. The plan, as it stands is to have $4000 US when we get there, Craigslist a cheap room, find jobs, and write about our experience via a blog (or maybe a notebook, I dunno.) We will be getting 2 year holiday visas, but my secret plan from day 1 is to find out if there is any way for me to stay longer than that, as returning to Iowa isn’t the most savory option for me. Any thoughts/ideas/stories/people who want to meet me there?