Don't Speak Estonian to the Swiss

I'm having a bit of trouble getting my head into the game, German wise.  It feels as if German is a place I visit briefly, but never long enough to really get my bearings.  The long break between German subjects, during which I abjectly failed to do any serious Autonomous Learning (even though I had grand plans and plenty of resources), didn't help.  I really need better self-control - my self-motivation doesn't seem to be cutting it.

I'm starting to wish I could swing a proper stay in Germany.  Even being there for just a week last year felt like it was making a huge difference   Within days I found myself understanding shop-keepers and asking questions in German without resorting to English (at least, half the time).

Then I had two weeks in Estonia, learning Estonian in an intensive class, and found my grasp on German seriously slipping.

Straight after my course I went on a tour of Switzerland, and I had great difficulty answering people.  I would understand something someone said in German, and go to answer them in Estonian.  Heck, I sometimes found myself trying to answer in Estonian even if they said something in English.  Or, occasionally, French or Italian.

With the French and Italian, it was usually something like "Vabandust, kas te räägite Inglise keelt?"  Which, of course, makes perfect sense.

Usually, though, it was the little words like "hello", "please", "thank you" and "sorry" that I was constantly saying in Estonian before scrambling to remember the German or English equivalent.  Oddly, no one in Switzerland seemed to understand me, but at the same time they didn't seem to care.  They were probably happy as long as I bought something.

By the time I got to Italy I was starting to remember my German again - and fat lot of good it did me there.

Of course, when I got to Austria, I was saying "grazie" to everyone, wasn't I?  It was good to have those few days in the German speaking world again, though.  It helped while it lasted.

Now I really need some quality German time.  I'm just really bad at arranging to get it on my own.