Find a way to enjoy learning Chinese. Even if it means listening to silly pop music. I have known many people to give up because it’s just too hard. My way of enjoying it was to chat to people in the sorts of pubs which no longer seem to exist (DV8 notable exception). Although it will require a certain amount of mental rigour, don’t make learning Chinese too arduous, and accept there will be times when you hate it.
I’m also a graduate of the Chinese program at University of Florida. I didn’t really have many problems when I first got here (two years ago), but then again I had also spent some time studying in China as a part of my degree. I think you’ll find in about 6 months you’ll be able to communicate quite well. Just keep listening and talking as much as possible, and if you’re here to seriously learn Chinese, try to stay away from other foreigners as much as possible! 
When I was in China, most of my classmates never strayed from other foreigners, and as a result got nearly nothing out of their experience. On the other hand, I tried to hang out with only Chinese, and did most of my sightseeing and traveling by myself so that I was forced to communicate. If you really commit yourself, you can learn quite quickly. With my B.A. in Chinese from Univ. of Florida, I only needed about 9 months of additional study at Shida (one semester of modern Chinese, and two semesters of classical Chinese) before I was able to get into the Chinese Literature M.A. program at Taida. So … don’t get too down on yourself! Good luck!