You will LOVE Paris, then. What helped me is that I said, I cannot speak French in "Francaise", then I said: Je parle Anglais... And they appreciated that more than me struggling and butchering their language... Then after a week, Parisiens started asking me in French about directions, I was shock!!!
Also, when some folks find out you are from Etais Unis, their interested is peaked. When I said I was California, they were more excited--don't know why?
And a close childhood friend moved there and lives there for years. She's fluent in 3-5 different languages. Anyhow she said it takes 2-3 months for you to express yourself in French. But overall getting around, buying food and reading signs, if you have been quizzed and did well on your infinitifs, then you should be fine within a week or so.
The other thing is when you want a salad with all tomatoes, etc. ask for "Salade compose' (can't do the accent on this computer)"... LOL. Didn't figure that one out for awhile.
