hello, I shall try to answer these questions to the best of my ability. I go to St Andrews, i don't study english but my best friend does
1) english course i think seems chill you get a lot of time in tutorials and stuff. no one has lectures/class on weekends
2) easy to get to edinburgh - around 2 hours by bus and bus travel is free in scotland for under 22s, very convenient
3) yes fairly expensive and hard to find/competitive - many people have to live in Dundee for example. i pay roughly 600 per month for house on the outskirts of town
4) depends, if it's easy to go home many people do, I usually do. note that many students are international so its easiest for them to stay, however many people take that time off to travel with friends yes. but this is no big deal
5) varies by course for most (english included i think) lecture attendance is not mandatory. also if you can give an excuse you can miss classes but really its up to you, if you're going home every week it might affect your independent study time. consider time/cost to go home often if you want to do that
6) they say you should stay in st andrews during your exams even if they're online, but you can go home if its online if you want no ones checking. different story if in person exam obvs
7) yes its a fat summer... many people stay in town for some/all of summer, you can travel with uni friends or visit them in their home towns or something. but if you make good friends you will keep in touch over summer so not a deal breaker i think...
hoipe this helps