Translating in real time, then learning to think in English.
When I first arrived, my brain was constantly translating. Every sentence had a delay — hear English, translate to Spanish, understand, formulate response in Spanish, translate back to English, speak. It was exhausting.
I was always half a beat behind in conversations. By the time I understood the joke, everyone had already moved on.
Over time, the translation layer thinned. I started dreaming in English. I stopped noticing which language I was thinking in. That's when I knew I had crossed a threshold.