I’m a Czech student who grew up in the UK and now lives in Prague.
After some travelling, I’ve found that Germany feels the most natural to me, because culturally it’s somewhere in the middle, which matches how I feel identity-wise. I can speak the language well enough for most everyday and official scenarios, but for socializing I still feel the most comfortable with English (because I don’t have to actively think about what I’m saying). Are there any places in Germany with communities that speak English by default? I’ve been thinking about trying Berlin or perhaps an Erasmus-heavy city like Heidelberg…
You’re correct about Heidelberg – at least as far as socializing and learning together go. You may occasionally need to speak German when you’re shopping or what not. By extension, the experience should be similar (although not quite as pronounced) in most other university cities with a similarly high proportion of students and university alumni. Finding a place to live will be a challenge though, and rather expensive.
Seconded; you can also consider Mannheim, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Tübingen, Göttingen, Münster, Erlangen, Regensburg, Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig, Halle, Jena. (I may accidentally be snubbing some cities by not mentioning them.)
I just recently visited Cologne and was baffled by how much English I heard.