I've been to England for several times now. During my schooldays I "had" to go there to attend summer schools. In the end, the duty to go there turned out to be much more than that. It was fun almost every time. The best thin about that stuff was that during my first trip there (where I went with a friend from school) I took part in a contest and I won a two weeks lasting trip for the next year (and even better: another place). As for the fact that I went there on my own, I didn't have any other Germans to talk to and I was forced to approach other international students. In the end I ended up in a group of friends from Spain, Turkey, Russia and some others (long time ago). I never had that much fun in my holidays and most probably I learned most of my English there.
Moreover I had "Leistungskurs" in English and even though there were many others who have been to the US or UK for a year, the teacher almost thought I was the best. Be it as it may...
After school I had an internship near London, which was also great. Well the work definitely wasn't but there many young interns and we had much fun in the evening. And even the collegues from work went to town with us at night. Very different to Germany I think.

Due to my stays in the UK I always thought I would speak BE, but they told me it would be more AE. But I think in the end it is always a mixture. Most often I don't know how to spell certain words because of the differences...

In general I must admit I dislike "the British". Just sitting in a pub and being asked whether or not I'd like "to borrow" a girl is simply annoying. And couples that are doing really pr0n things in the public in addition drunken football fans is just not the way I like it. More like the last remaining "Ladies and Gentlemen". Hard to find, though...

CT is right with his German statement...just btw.

Edit:
oy yeah and watching movies is definitely better in English. Except for special ones like "Usual suspects" where I don't even understand a single word uttert by Fenster...