I definitely agree about living overseas for a time. If you ever get the chance and don't take it, you'll only live to regret it. And who knows, you may not want to move back! I got a chance to move from the States to London in late 2006. I expected to be there for about a year, and ended up there for 1.5 years before moving to Oslo. I've been here since, and I have no plans to move back to the States anytime soon.

When you immerse yourself in a different culture, you start finding that you look at a lot of stuff in new ways. Sometimes it's frustrating, but it is a very rewarding experience.

I've been studying on my own for a few years. I haven't been crazy about it, so I would judge myself to be low-intermediate. As long as I know all the words, I can usually understand when people talk a little slower than normal. When I don't, I can often repeat the words I don't understand to ask for explanations.

I have a language partner in Japan and we talk daily. Unfortunately, I have to say "I don't understand" about every other sentence. It's a good thing she's so patient!

Out of curiosity (and apologies to the op for steering off-topic), how did you find your language partner?

Lang-8.com. I started correcting peoples' English and posting my own entries in Japanese. People added me as a friend and I after I mentioned I had Skype, someone asked to be my language partner over Skype.

Since then I've seen a few that I'm certain would do the same, if I asked. It was a lot easier to find a partner than I expected. Also, there are many more Japanese people learning English on Lang-8 than English speakers learning Japanese. It means you get a LOT of attention when you post, especially if you've been correcting others.

Thanks - I'll give that a shot. I've been slowly teaching myself a bit of Japanese for the past few months, but I'm still very much a beginner.