It was my wife's first trip to a non-English speaking country. She was confident enough to take the trains, visit some museums and grab lunch while I was actively presenting my paper and listening to others.
In the evening, we took the train downtown. 15 miles from our hotel. As the train reached our destination, the operator announced they rail workers were on strike. Oh joy! We found a nice Thai restaurant for dinner, then the adventure to get back to the hotel started. The buses were striking too. We located a bus station and the cabbies were having a field day with all the opportunities. We were able to hire a cab to get us back to the hotel and did it all in Italian. I'm back to Italian again in Duolingo and making fine progress.
It sounds like Duolingo might be a good addition to my own mashed-up course.
A wonderful experience, and, memory!!