France is beautiful (Germany too) The culture is really switching between the different region like Alsace-Lorraine, the Mediterranean, the region around Bordeaux, the Loire, Brittany, etc... It´s great. And people are actually nice if you try to speak French.
I had to learn it in school... 12 years French and an internship there. Was great and fun, and it has a nice sound but it´s sometimes so hard when you have all these verbs in the different tenses...
Indeed. Somehow your brain starts to think after some weeks in this language. It´s the best way to learn after knowing the basics. Just get thrown out of a plane to the specific country you want to learn the language.