The Ultimate Goal

So last night I was reading a book which is the fourth in "The Mary Russell Series" (I know, I shouldn't be reading in English, I promise that was the last time!). While reading, I stumbled upon a
quote that just embodies study abroad:

"Despite, or perhaps because of, my combined lack of sleep, physical tiredness, and psychic revulsion of the ubiquitous foreign language, I suddenly realised that I was able to understand virrtually everything that was being said. It was as if some internal mechanism had clcked on and the strange and laborious patterns fell neatly into place, so that even individual words that I did not
actually know were clear in their context
 -Mary Russell (Character in Laurie R. King's "Oh Jerusalem")

This is the moment I am striving for. This understanding is what studying abroad is all about! This is the moment that every exchange student dreams about!

Last night I had a little taste of this moment. The Girards (Odile, Jean-Yves, Louise) and I dined with a few of their family friends, and near the end of the night I just ended up listening because I was so tired/exhausted from mental translation. Suddenly, for about 2 minutes, I was just able to understand what they were talking about without translating in my head or conjugating verbs. Like Mary Russell, I found myself understanding words from their context, not just because I studied them in school! It was so awesome, but it inevitably ended when the convorsation turned less elementary. I still have a long way to go, but it's great to have a little taste of fluency! (Though I'm obviously nowhere near fluent right now)