Language is my new favorite game

Well, here I am... exactly one week before school begins and one day before I leave for my new home! I am excited and I cannot wait to meet new people.
At the moment I have been struggling to communicate...yes, I have a problem with this! It is so much harder to communicate when one's vocabulary is soo limited. At dinner with Adrien's family and family friends I sit in the corner with a blank face and eat or drink as much as possible avoiding any direct conversation or eye contact. I only speak when I am spoken to.
I have tried to be active in the conversations, but my participation has only given the table a good laugh.
I hear a few words and try to put them together the best that I can and voila! blurt out the first thought. It is sort of like the Rorschach inkblot tests and at those random times where I took the initiative to join the world in conversation, I made it a game to see how close I could actually get.
The most vivid example of this is when we (Adrien, Adrien's father, his friend Nicole, and myself) were gathered around the table for dinner. The previous topic was religion, so when I heard the words "Bible Belt" come from Adrien's father and then "protestant, catholic" exit out of Nicole's mouth- my first reaction was to say "Ah oui... les baptists" haha having no idea what was going on in the conversation... Adrien's father handled this well and tried to make me feel...well normal as he repeated baptist as if that word belonged with the others, but Nicole and Adrien looked soo puzzled and began to laugh.
The actual topic was about French engagements vs. American engagements (for marriage) and how the US is more traditional when it comes to this especially in the bible belt. haha wow can you imagine how awkward this was.
With this vow of silence that I have involuntarily taken, I have had a lot of time to myself. It gives me time to think about things I want to do, things I need to do, and about life.
Another side to this is how I try to blend in... I don't like to speak English that much in public, because it becomes so obvious that I am in fact American. My favorite is when we were in Paris and we would be in public with Adrien and Nicole or Adrien, Nicole, and his father and everyone would be speaking in French. I felt as though I blended into society-even though I understood maybe a few of the words out of the conversation.
Another thought- It is extremely hard to switch back and forth from English to French. By the end of the day I am completely exhausted!!! There are moments where the conversation between me and Nicole or Adrien's father would be in English...then either one of the two would start a conversation between eachother or with Adrien in French only to surprise me with a question in French... If I am not paying attention- I miss the question and appear rude having to ask for a repeat.
Even ordering food has become stressfull... but it is the only thing I really know how to do! Either I will return to the states fluffier or emaciated. I hope it is the second one, especially with my anxiety of ordering haha. I know I should be excited to put the last 2 years of what I have learned in college to practice, but to be honest, I didn't learn that much. What I did learn, I lost over the second year due to a great teacher last fall who thought he could teach us French speaking only in English and not encouraging participation.
There still is hope and I am not completely mute- there are just some moments where I find it more practical to keep my mouth shut. My French is improving and once my classes begin, I will become better.