Hey
I spent 3 years as an Air Cadet and had some amazing experiences- flying, shooting, gliding, attending annual camps at RAF bases, fieldcraf excercises....amongst much more. There is of course a "boring" side as you put it- uniform, discipline, shoe polishing!, drill and lectures (you pass exams as you learn more) but drill isn't too bad and sometimes it is nice to make a real effort in your appearence ( I can certainly iron shirts really well now). On the exam side- when you get to the top level (Staff Cadet) the exam you take equates to a BTEC in Aviation Studies and whilst i was in the ATC I got a BTEC in Public Services too- (I think that equates to 4 GCSE's- correct me if not!) which is an added bonus.
We also did lots of stuff outside of cadets as a social group- cinema/ paintball/bowling etc- I made some really good friends.
We went for 2 nights a week- but I think it depends on your squadron- same goes with the "boring" stuff really- there are some really well organised squadrons and some not so.
I say give it a go and try to stick it out for at least a month- it's great on the CV and if you have as much fun as I have you will make memories you certainly won't forget!