Parlez-vous français?

Since I took French in high school for four years and even passed the advanced placement test on the subject, I should be able to speak French. On the other hand, until yesterday when we arrived in Paris I had not spoken a word of French for roughly six years. My first test, which I passed, was getting us to Fabien's house which included buying metro tickets from a machine only in French and navigating the métro. That however was only reading French, which is fairly easy.
This morning, sim and I went to a café to get breakfast. I went up to order and just drew a blank. I was only able to get out "un café, un thé, un croissant and une baguette avec beurre," no verbs or anything. I couldn't even remember how to say "outside" at the time. It was a pretty miserable beginning, but my French gradually improved as I remembered things I learned in school, heard French spoken and saw French written in Paris.