Elle, I have got a feeling Rusty knew exactly what I meant, but was just teasing me! At least this is how I took it!
Susan, don't be too impressed, I always had family in England - my mother's sister married an English man and they lived in Witney - thus the first time I came over on a holiday with my parents I was only 6. Of course I did not speak a word of English then, but the benefit came later when learning the language at school, I was lucky to be able to go on holiday to my aunt's and put whatever I had learnt into practice
Later, I decided I wanted to live there permanently which I did from 1972 to 1989. So living and working in the country goes a long way to improving one's knowledge of a language!