Amazing blog, thanks for posting it. Been living in Paris for two weeks now and not really even tried to speak French, my aim by the end of my internship was to become conversationally fluent. Definitely starting this soon: http://www.fluentin3months.com/the-smartest-decision-you-wil...
Basically the biggest trouble I have had learning a spoken language is in getting over the awkwardness of never being able to understand the other person or come up with a quick reply. You probably need to get used to sounding like an idiot all the time and constantly misunderstanding what people are trying to say. Then, get used to people switching to English even though that's really not helping your situation. If you have no trouble with that, you're much better off than I am.
Another useful skill that I alluded to is the ability to quickly and accurately simplify your thoughts into words that you know in the language in question. You will learn that a lot of the time in English you are just adding layers and layers of nuance to what you are saying rather than more clearly saying what you are actually thinking.
As I said in the post, closed-mindedness is something that people have to realise lies within themselves. This post wasn't calling Parisians closed minded.
I assumed you were calling yourself closed-minded.
But my point was that the whole open-minded versus closed-minded conversation hinges upon cultural values which are by no means universal. There are many cases where the reverse is seen as important (e.g. resisting outside influences) or where the entire topic is not seen as meaningful or important.
Another useful skill that I alluded to is the ability to quickly and accurately simplify your thoughts into words that you know in the language in question. You will learn that a lot of the time in English you are just adding layers and layers of nuance to what you are saying rather than more clearly saying what you are actually thinking.