Before coming to Japan for the first time, I'd taken about three years of Japanese and gotten A's in all my courses: I was always at the top of my class, received high scores on tests, and was all-around doing very well ...or so I thought. And then I came to Japan, where I realized that I could barely speak Japanese.
Everyone spoke so fast; I couldn't figure out how to say the things I wanted to say and when I did, I made mistakes that I knew were wrong even as I said them; and there were so many kanji EVERYWHERE.
I guess this is what they mean by total language immersion.
Anyway, after about half a year, I feel way more confident in my Japanese abilities. My listening comprehension has gone through the roof; I can even watch ドラマ now without English subtitles (though I still like watching with Japanese subtitles on). I can understand much more kanji than I did a year ago: even when I don't remember the exact reading for a kanji, I usually comprehend the meaning. And I've lost a lot of my shyness when it comes to conversing with others (especially when drinking, haha) and hesitate a lot less when speaking.
Don't get me wrong, though, I still have so far to go in my learning. When I leave Japan in a few months, I won't have daily interaction with native speakers, so all my learning will go back to classroom and independent study. But I won't give up! My goal is to someday get so fluent that people get surprised 「あっ！日本人じゃないの？？」 Haha, a girl can dream, right?
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