On a similar note, I started learning Swedish mostly through months of self-study (reading/writing) in the US, and a private tutor every other week. She was the only Swedish tutor I could find in a 1 hour driving radius, and British. She is a professional translator and also teaches Spanish and German; I was her first Swedish pupil.

Which meant I, like you, had the strange ability when visiting Swedish, of speaking much better Swedish than I could understand.