Making friends with a language barrier

On campus, I lived in a suite with three other Italian-speaking girls who didn't speak any English. I quickly learned that the only way to get over this fear of embarrassment was to just not worry if I make a mistake with the language. In broken Italian, I introduced myself, explained why I was there and where I was from. Thankfully, all three girls were willing to laugh along with my mistakes and teach me as much as they could with the casual aid of Google Translate. I noticed that while it might be easy for me to understand what they are saying or asking, it is usually a lot more difficult to come up with a response. Eventually, I got over this and met their friends and we all got together and had a nice homemade Italian feast: