Going to France to study. Anything i should know or take before i go?

Question

This October i will travel to France (either Rouen or Tours) for 6 years to study French language. Is there anything i should take or prepare or know before i go there to make my stay more easy and complications-free?

Answer 1

Don't ask to take the food home with you at a restaurant.The french think it's rude. But they don't think it's rude when you sound like a elephant when you are blowing your nose at the table when people are trying to eat.
Annoying self-ish french foreign exchange student we had

Answer 2

read some good books about France, like Lonely Planet. Make sure you will not get bored in Rouen, make sure to ask US people from Rouen to let you know about to avoid, etc.

Answer 3

Discovering a different culture is a fantastic experience. I am glad I crossed the pond some time ago and that I work in an international environment.

I found this book very interesting and I wish I had read it before I moved. Raymonde Carroll in "Cultural Misunderstandings: The French-American Experience", a French woman married to an American man, living in the USA, analyzes the US and French culture differences from an anthropologist perspective.
book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226094987/qid=1126369118/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7227169-9212132?n=507846&s=books&v=glance
author: http://www.oberlin.edu/romance/raymonde.html

Another interesting book: Edward T. Hall in "The Hidden Dimension" illustrates the concept of Proxemics with interesting points on cross-cultural understanding.
book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385084765/102-7227169-9212132?v=glance&n=283155
author:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_T._Hall
Proxemics: http://www.csiss.org/classics/content/13

I recently found this book writtent by Pascal Baudry, who teaches in Berkeley, CA., that you can download for free. I haven't read it yet.
book: http://www.pbaudry.com/cyberlivre/index_en.php

A good practical tool based on a family experience who moved to the French Riviera: http://www.kiechle.com/france/index.htm

You could also have a glance at these articles from the Tocqueville Connection Web site:
- http://www.adetocqueville.com/cgi-binloc/searchTTC.cgi?displayZop+467
- http://www.adetocqueville.com/cgi-binloc/searchTTC.cgi?displayZop+783
- http://www.adetocqueville.com/cgi-binloc/searchTTC.cgi?displayZop+815
- http://www.adetocqueville.com/cgi-binloc/searchTTC.cgi?displayZop+826
- http://www.adetocqueville.com/cgi-binloc/searchTTC.cgi?displayZop+795

This Web site should help too:
http://www.understandfrance.org/France/Intercultural.html
http://www.understandfrance.org/France/Attitudes.html
http://www.understandfrance.org/

The Cultura Website by the French department of the MIT should also be interesting to explore: http://web.mit.edu/french/culturaNEH/

Bon séjour ! :-)