When we arrived in Paris, I quickly realized that my high school French was nearly gone entirely. I can remember a lot of words and useful phrases, but could only understand random words from conversations, and if a waiter started to talk with me while I was ordering I would have to admit I did not understand.
Having Marie there with us was extremely helpful. She explained how things worked and what things were (especially in relation to menus). As the week progressed I was starting to feel more confident about speaking in French and starting to remember more.
At the Monet Museum I took a trip to the loo, which had two stalls. One of them was occupied and I realized that the other one didn't have any toilet paper. So I was standing there waiting when another woman came in. She looked at the empty stall, and back at me, and back at the stall again in a questioning manner. I anxiously wanted to communicate the situation to her and especially to warn her of the lack of toilet paper, so I composed a French sentence ON MY OWN and told her that there was no toilet paper.
She looked at me in an understanding manner and nodded, then after a few seconds went into the stall anyway. I thought that was sort of strange but assumed she must have had kleenex in her purse or something (a common and wise practice when using European bathrooms).
I was SO proud of myself for thinking fast, speaking in French (all on my own) and actually communicating with someone! As we were leaving I was excitedly telling Brandon the story and Marie asked me what I had said to her. I repeated my sentence and Marie started laughing hysterically. Afraid, I asked what I had said and Marie told me, "you said, 'The door is not made of toilet paper!'"
So, I guess the lady was probably a bit confused by my excited declaration of nonsense. Oops!
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