Highlight of my day

Usually my work colleagues will speak English with me, even though I speak their foreign language fairly well. But this afternoon, I was the only American in the room and after a few minutes, they dropped English.  We were laughing and joking when I realized that I was following along with no problem, laughing with the rest of them, and speaking their language without hesitating over potential grammar mistakes.  After months of studying until my eyes hurt, stressing over the genitive and dative cases, and worrying about learning every cultural nuance and reference, it finally clicked--if only for a few brief minutes.