Tried Verbling yesterday afternoon...
For folks looking for an opportunity to practice speaking with a native English or Spanish speaker, I would like to recommend Verbling (http://www.verbling.com). During the very simple account creation process you are asked to select your fluent language and what language(s) you are learning. They do not ask for ANY personal information other than an email address. You can post a photo of yourself if you want.
You log in and click "Get Partner" and you are paired with the first available person who is fluent in the language you are learning, who wants to learn your native language. I was paired with a guy in Seville, Spain. He could see from my stats that it was my first time using Verbling, so he kindly showed me around, but honestly the user interface needs no explanation. You can enable or disable the camera, as you prefer. I left mine disabled.
The screen has two counters at the top. Mine said "English" on one side and "Spanish" on the other. The Spanish counter began at 5:00 minutes and began counting down to zero. When the counter reached zero, Manuel and I got a pop up notice to change languages, and the Spanish counter began at 5:00 and started counting down. It continued back and forth like this for as long as we wanted to remain connected.
I love the five minute interval!! It ensures that both parties get ample time to practice, and it gave me a chance to rest in between the Spanish sessions, which require fairly intense effort on my part. Sometimes we got animated and missed the change, but frequently we would change languages literally in mid sentence. It was a blast.
We talked about language learning in general, and how hard it is to think completely in the non-native language (i.e. not slip into idioms in your brain that don't translate). We talked of how easy it is to read, but more difficult to listen, and most difficult of all to speak. We talked about what each other finds difficult about the "other" language (he finds it difficult to understand Brits because they frequently drop the final 'r').
Then we chatted about Thanksgiving, and he gave me a link to a turkey recipe that is not baked but cooked in a large pot. It is a traditional way of cooking turkey in Spain. http://www.recetasdemama.es/2007/12/pechuga-de-pavo-con-salsa-de-almendras/ if you're interested.
Oh, by the way, there is an area where you can type, which is pretty cool and helpful.
We talked about traditional Christmas meals and the difference between city and rural life. We talked about the strike in Spain. It was very fun! You can talk for as long as you like, changing languages every five minutes. We ended up talking for ALMOST TWO HOURS. Yes, 116 minutes. Insane. It was like no time had gone by. I can't wait to spend my 30 minute lunch breaks practicing my Spanish!!
Verbling gives you the opportunity to save friends in a friends list. He invited me to be his friend, and I accepted. I'm not sure how easy it will be to connect with him again in the future, but if we do then we can avoid the weird small talk between total strangers (Where do you live, do you have a big family...). I don't think that he and I will become great friends but he is an excellent practice partner. And I can definitely picture myself becoming friends with a woman in another country who has more in common with me, and me asking her one day "So, how was your son's wedding?" or saying "So glad to hear your Mom is feeling better."
Basically, I was pretty scared before trying it out and now I am super energized. I know a lot of folks on here are friends in Skype and already have live practice sorted out, but for those of you who don't, or who are looking to practice more, Verbling is absolutely amazing. I can't say enough good things about it.
10 Answers
Thank you Leslie. Very helpful information!
Excellent!!!
Thank you so much for sharing this. I know that lots of people will be interested.
Well I finally bit the bullet and had a go today. It was hard going and there was rather a lot of hesitation on my part ;P
But it felt great to be able to practice in a real conversation. I didn't realize how difficult it would be transferring everything I'd learned into saying something meaningful. I managed to get over an hour in.
Fully recommend in to anyone hesitating 
I tried it and had 2 conversations. The second was amazing and I learned about Colombia (and not just about Spanish).
The first was a bit problematic because the speaker was very inexperienced with English, so we couldn't get more out of the experience. I feel that there should at least be a minimum skill level recommended to participate. Not to be mean, but because it's more beneficial if both speakers have a decent grasp of their target language.
Also, both speakers preferred that we spend most of the time on English and not on Spanish (not so much with he second conversation), but that was mostly my fault and not theirs.
Haha, for the last few days, I've been on the Verbling website, sitting at the "Get Partner" button for an hour at a time, too nervous to actually initiate a session, trying to motivate myself, then trying to talk myself out of it. Tomorrow, I'll be seeing a friend of mine from Mexico, so hopefully spending a day speaking with him will get me in the mood to finally give Verbling the chance I know it deserves.
Thanks Leslie. I've never heard of this but would like to try it. Thanks for giving your entire experience. It really helps to know a little more what you are getting into.
It's great but sometimes it takes a while before you can connect with a native Spanish speaker. Maybe it's just me because of the time zone difference. I joined it when it was still running on beta. I think it's a lot better now. I did meet good people there who are serious language learners. Anyway, they also have flashcards for you to practice. I suggest you give it a try. Just make sure your internet connection is stable. Thanks for sharing, Leslie. 
I tried it just aminute ago and all I got was the intro video no matter what I clicked on: FAQ, Login, Signup. Anybody know what I am doing wrong?
Thank you, Leslie, for this wonderful review! Verbling tends to be a final stop for learners serious about gaining proficiency, so you're doing the community a great service by sharing your experience here and spreading the word.
Looks very interesting. Practicing with natives when you don't live in the country usually has to be forestalled till you can visit or setup a Skype group with people you know.
Sadly I'm not at a level yet where I could hope to have a meaningful conversation, but hopefully in time :D
Thanks for sharing that
