Spanish Proficiency

I keep receiving invites to Duolingo events. I’m tempted to attend these events but I always hesitate. These events are for people who are learning Spanish through Duolingo, a free mobile and web app for language learners around the world. There’s one group that meets every month at a location very near my place. The meetup is not a class but is meant to build one’s confidence in speaking the language. So I think of these events as my chance to actually converse with people in Spanish. Yet I never go. Meeting strangers with whom I need to exchange small talk—in Spanish at that—is such a daunting task.

I’ve been studying Spanish since 2013, but I'm not even close to being fluent. I took a Spanish proficiency test and based on my score I’m now at the intermediate (B1) level. This means that I am now an independent user of the language and that I (supposedly) can:

• understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.;
• deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken;
• produce simple connected texts on topics which are familiar or of personal interest;
• describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions; and
• briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

In theory, yes, I can do all of those things, but in actual situations I’m not quite sure.