Never mind the Japanese part, I’m already impressed you guys are talking to strangers.
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This was really heartening to read! I’m also pretty anxious and prefer reading or thinking/writing to myself, even in my native language. You’ve inspired me to give italki a shot. Thanks! 
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Oh そうですね… I have gotten through hours of conversation (including with a woman who turned out to be not quite all there - I just thought my Japanese had gotten rusty because I couldn’t follow what she was on about, but I asked my host and she said she didn’t understand her either) with nothing but this. It’s a great filler when you don’t really know what to say but want to be agreeable.
Except when I thought she was telling me magnets were dangerous (wherein I called upon そうですね’s close cousin そうですか - which is more like “Oh, really?”) and it turned out she was asking me, and she demanded an answer. (She had a flashlight under her pillow, but it was the kind that sticks to the fridge so she was worried about the magnets frying her brain in the night or something.) I told her I thought it was okay (大丈夫だと思う).
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Haha yeah, you can get by quite a bit with the following:
うん
はい
そうです(か)(ね)
そう
そーそーそー
ええ
うせー
すげえ
なるほど
もちろん
Plus, I think after watching enough interviews on Japanese TV, it’s hard not to interject 相槌 when you’re speaking.
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Very very well done It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there and speak in a language you’re studying on your own.
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Congratulations! And thank you for telling us about your experience.
I’m quite intimidated by the thought of having to speak to strangers/natives, so that definitely gave me a push to at least take another look on italki 
Did you prepare for your lessons or did you just dive right in?
Aside from being able to say a few things about oneself, why one is studying japanese and where one wants to go with it - what should a preparation for this include?
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My husband has had to listen to my skype classes for the last 3 months (before covid I used to go to my tutor’s house) and this is now his favourite phrase.
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Haha, that’s brilliant. 
My family has to listen to my Japanese playlist when I drive and I think they’re starting to learn the lyrics. lol
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My mom actually happened to like some of the Japanese singers-songwriters I’m listening to, and she’s now listening to them too
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I didn’t really prepare much at all - maybe I should have, haha. If you don’t already have a self-introduction of some kind, it might be a good idea to write one, since all three of my teachers started the lesson by asking for a 自己紹介. Other than that, you’re probably fine just taking the plunge!
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How scary 
But then, if you don’t know what is to come, how should you prepare maybe it’s better to just take the plunge and don’t stress out too much beforehand
Thanks again 
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Yeah, and it’s somehow more awkward to listen in silence in Japanese. The あいづち seem to be less of an interjection and more of an… encouragement? Audience participation? Like we’d smile and nod when listening in English. In my experience with in-person Japanese conversation, I feel like they take the place of eye contact in communicating interest and attention (since sustained eye contact can feel awkward, embarrassing, or even threatening in many other cultures).
In some contexts it’s not even rude to interrupt the speaker with them (although it’s not even an interruption, more of a simultaneous thing, as they likely won’t stop talking), especially the quieter ones.
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