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As far as the language goes, I've recently have accepted the fact that I will probably never speak the language well, but I do dream of going to Japan one day, so I do have a desire to pick up a decent amount of the language so that I can somewhat communicate if/when I go. As I've said before, I can do that by taking classes outside of school or picking up a book or learning on the internets.
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I think you have the right idea, at the least.
I believe that the level of difficulty someone is going to feel has a lot to do with their expectations. If you expect to come out of it fluent in no time at all, then you are probably setting yourself up for failure. If you have realistic expectations, then you will probably have your ups and downs, but most likely will be satisfied with the outcome. If you just have the dream and low expectations, then you`ll probably be amazed at how easy things are in the end.
I think that too many learners simply make their goal fluency... Which is great, but that is very very far away. It`s sort of like starting a hike from New York to Los Angeles, and setting your first goal as LA. You`re not going to make it all the way there in one go. Walk as far as you can in that direction, and end up collapsing somewhere along the way with the feeling of total hopelessness... After all, you wouldn`t have even made it out of the state, let alone anywhere close to LA.
But if you say "I want to walk as far as I can toward LA - my first goal will be *insert small town within a day`s walking distance*" chances are, you`ll make it to the first goal with time to spare and feel good about it. Have a good meal, get a good night`s sleep, and be ready to walk to the next town in the morning. And when you look back, instead of feeling that you aren`t any closer to the ultimate goal, you`ll be impressed by how far you`ve come.