Am I fluent?

One of the most common questions I get asked by people in the US is, "So, are you fluent yet?" I find myself asking the same question, but I'm not sure how to reply. Yes it's true that for the past 9 months I've been living in Spain, technically by myself. I converse every single day from 7:30am to 11:30pm in Spanish (ok maybe more like 8:30 because I'm a zombie in the morning). Actually, the only English I ever speak is in English class, my bilingual ethics class, or online, talking to friends or family back home. Most of the music I listen to is now in Spanish, and in my free time, I've started reading a love story called, "El cielo está en cualquier lugar" (The sky is everywhere). So all this, but at the same time, I'm hesitant to throw out the word, fluent.

The thing is, even though I can talk to just about anyone, anywhere, in any situation, I still make a ton of mistakes. My Spanish teacher is patient with me, and grades my tests with an understanding mind, but I still see her nervous pen marks changing gender errors, adding accents, or correcting verb tenses. I understand most of what I hear on the daily news channel if I pay attention, but if I zone out, I completely miss it. After all this time, I still don't get the jokes of the comedy channel that we sometimes watch, although I can follow along with the pictures. My history teacher asks me to read sometimes in class because he says he loves to hear my american accent. I live in a world of Spanish but I still have gaps in my understanding.

So what makes someone fluent? According to google, fluent can be defined as;  Able to speak or write a particular foreign language easily and accurately. But who can measure "easily" and "accurately"? If that means without making any mistakes, then I can name a handfull of Americans I know who wouldn't fall into the category of fluent in English with all the grammar mistakes they make. Also, what is "easily"? Some days, I'm so talkative I feel like I could spark a conversation with just about anyone, but some days, I can't even find a few words to say during lunch because my brain feels like a fluffy cloud of nothingness. 

So you see my dilemma. 

To answer this question as honestly as I can, yes, I can speak in Spanish and yes I understand basically everything (minus the punchline to the joke), and yes, reading and writing aren't hard for me. It could be my personality, or my vague understanding of the word, but I would still hesitate to call myself fluent. 

Maybe I've just learnt that it's an ongoing process. Just like I learn new English words everyday, even when I've spoken the language for about 16 years, I'll continue learning spanish as long as I put the effort in. It's impossible to assume I could grasp the equivalent of 16 years of knowledge in just 10 months, but hey, I'm definitely a lot closer to that goal of "fluent". Or maybe, my criteria is completely wrong and I really am fluent. Sería cojonudo. 

Well, fluent or not, I'm still here, and I'm still learning. Going to make the most of these last three weeks I have left.