I'm lost... Help needed

[Ctn]

Hi guys,

I am desperately in need of help.
After 1.5 years of digital photographing (with an d90) i want to explore the possibilities of good old film.

The first and foremost question i have is:
Medium format or 35mm? I am ofcourse a beginner but a very fast learner so skill issues should be fast dealt with.
You probably want to know what my primary subjects are going to be:
Very broad at the moment but leaning towards portraits/casual landscaping

Budget: directly to spend around 200 dollar but willing to save up and wait a little longer

A few questions however are bugging me and i cant seem to find one answer on the internet (perhaps because there isnt one answer).
Here they are:
1. Is it worth it image quality wise?
Considering I will not be able to develop the photo's myself due to lack of space at the moment
2. I read alot of horror stories about letting your B&W film developed by photo labs. (standard color processes etc getting contrast/color(?) etc wrong) is it that bad? (B&W will be my primary film of choise)
3. Get prints or scan slides myself?
4. Transparency or regular film?

I have a bunchload of other questions but lets start off with these.
I hope you can help me with this.