German makes the same distinction between mussel and mollusc that English and French do: Muschel/Weichtier. You want snail? Schnecke. Doesn't matter the language; a snail isn't a mussel and it certainly isn't a fish.

And BTW one does fish mussels!
http://youtu.be/8JdJH0NKTnw

What are "Wattschnecken" in French and English and what's the difference between them and "Weinbergschnecken"?

You may not get it, but in reality very few people would like to move to a foreign country and leave home. It's nice here, why would I want to move 500k and live in a foreign place, if I'm not forced to do so. Esp. when I know that I don't like it there anyway. What does it say about the love and passion for my home and native country. There's nothing that would make us want to migrate to France, nothing. It's actually really good here. And if I wanted French cheese there's a fromagerie around the corner.

"What are "Wattschnecken" in French"
bigorneaux or bigornots or vigneaux or buccins or escargots de mer, depending on the area.

'Knowing that you live in the Dordogne - I need to pick your brains later about the Dordogne for next year - do you find you speak english a lot or do you manage to speak French most of the time? I think the Dordogne is a beautiful area but would be put off if it is just another London suburb... (exaggeration)

Not at all a London suburb. We have lots of French friends (and neighbours) - had lunch with 20 of them last Friday, will be working with 60 or 70 of them this weekend for our village Fete des Crepes.

I remember reading an interview with an English woman who asked 'Is it really necessary to speak French to live there?' Answer No, if you never want to have your hair cut, go to the dentist, have your TV repaired, have an operation....' All those things we do in French, sometimes for other people who never got around to learning the language.

And I too listen to France Inter a lot, particularly in the car. Good podcasts too, like 'On va deguster' about food, restaurants, etc.

Wattschnecken are boulots in French, I believe. Never seen them here in the USA, so not sure what they're called.

Weinbergschnecken are I believe called Roman snails (chiocciole in Italian), but again, we don't have a lot of snails here in the USA so am not sure. Have no idea what they're called in French or if the French even eat them.

Believe it or not, loads and loads of people uproot happily and move to other countries, more and more every day. If you don't want to, that's fine.

Indeed France has always been a country of immigration rather than emigration. Even though Germany is now a country of immigration, it was not always the case. People used to leave the country in droves.

boulot is an informal word for job, could also be a type of mussel, wish I had the Larousse Gastronomique.

It is bulots, not boulots which is slang for "work" :-) Another name is "gros buccins".

Roman snails (Helix Pomatia) are escargots de Bourgogne. They avoid salt water like the plague.

Sorry guys, but if you check your dictionaries, you'll see
bulot - whelk

boulot - work (as in Metro, boulot, dodo)

In fact I just reread Pvoyageuse, and maybe that's what he/she is saying, it just wasn't clear to me - especially since Ive never seen boulot in the plural.

"Mes boulots de jeunesse furent chiantes."

Now you've seen it!

Interesting discussion re snails and muscles, doesn't matter to me as I don't care for either!!!

Do you think I should be forgetting the dream to live in France and instead be considering Bavaria?? Obviously a top spot.

I love Australia and all it offers, but it doesn't offer the same things as Europe, and variety is the spice of life, non?

Thanks travelanywhere for the link and good suggestions re the accueil pvoyageuse.

May the discussion between snails, muscles and jobs continue!!

Schnauzer

"Mes boulots de jeunesse furent chiantes."

Now you've seen it!

Thanks Kerouac - of course, that makes sense.

Just listened to France Inter, a program on 'Le country' with Merle Haggard singing that it wasn't his mama's fault he turned out bad. Then sang along with Johnny Cash and his Ring of Fire.

Even the 'more French' program afterwards (On n'a pas tous les jours 20 ans, + Jacques Brel singing about us oldies) has been followed by Grete Keller in German, and now 'Talkin bout my generation' Tres international ici!

The July-August programs on France Inter are more quirky than during the rest of the year. They use the holiday period to experiment.

"boulot is an informal word for job, could also be a type of mussel"

It's moules de bouchots. A bouchot is the wooden stake on which mussels are raised.
Un boulot is also a type of bread.

Now it is time to move on to <b>bouleau</b>, the birch tree.

"Mon boulot est de bouillir des bulots sous les bouleaux."

Ack,my mistake, and I should know the difference because they are pronounced differently, and I've ordered bulots at the market enough times to know better!

I knew that boulots was related to work/jobs, but didn't know all these other uses;nor did I know bouchot. So much to learn!

Boulot/boulotte (adj) means short and chubby.

Schnauzer, You are my kind of person. I have had this dream, too, after coming back from school in Villefranche-sur-Mer. Then I got invovled with animal rescue. There are many dogs and cats in my care at this time. Then, I built an apt in Bangkok for our golden years. Hence, the very long absence from this forum. Today is my first time checking the blog. My dream at that time was to spend 6 months in Cassis. We went there and loved it. I am waitting to see about your decision. As a side note, I am happy to to see the same fodorites that I valued their comments/suggestions in the past. I will come back here to ask more advices. I am planning a trip next year to Paris. Again, only after one old sick dog is gone. He is deaf and blind. I can't leave him until then. The rest can be taken care by the pet sitter. Enough for hijacking Schnauzer's post.

I think it's as silly to say "on no accounts have any expat friends" as it is to go to France with the intention of avoiding the French as much as possible. That said, it is easy to fall into the trap of living in an anglo bubble, so moderation in all things. And who doesn't moan sometimes? The French included. Me certainly included - e.g. the summer has been far too cold and rainy, except right now when's it's far too hot and sunny. I'm a delight ;)

I have pretty itchy feet at the mo after nearly 2 1/2 years in Tours, so I would be tempted to say do two 6 month stints or something. It's true that you are just getting to know a place and people after a year, but if you're just leaving at the end anyway, you might not consider that it makes much difference. I would avoid Paris (and have done) myself, but I've just never especially cared for the place. Follow your heart!

PS It may not be, but be prepared for it to be really hard to make friends. I'm a bit "between two chairs" in a way, being older than the uni students around here but not in the retiree age group, so most people of my age a) already have all the friends they want from uni etc. and/or b) are focused on career and/or c) are starting families.

When I first moved, I was "lucky" enough to have a French flatmate that I would hang out with every weekend, but it transpired after more than a year living together that she was stealing my rent cheque and not paying anything and we both got evicted and I was left with that whole drama and the loss of most of my social network. Obviously something that extremely awful is very unlikely to happen to anyone else, but my point (did I have one, or am I moaning?) was that even though I'd been there all that time I had to start from scratch about a year ago, and I'd say I'm probably just now at a "good" level of French and expat friends again (and then the problem with expats is they have a habit of moving on as well).

And I've realised that while some people are interested and want to make friends with foreigners, many don't - for the reasons above or because it's an effort for them to communicate as well as for us. That's perfectly normal, but perhaps unless you're going to a very small village, don't expect to be the star turn in the neighbourhood like A Year In Provence or whatever.

Anyway, sorry for being long and I hope no-one whose opinion and experience differs takes offence.

I agree that it will be exceptional if you manage to make any 'real' French friends, but it's more a question of crossed signals rather than any aversion by the French of making new foreign friends. I happen to be extremely French in my social demeanor, which is probably one of the reasons that drew me back to France. A number of people have told me "From the look in your eyes, I thought you couldn't stand me when we met." Well, welcome to France! ;-) Never take such a look at face value. Don't push too hard, but if you want to get to know someone better, do not hesitate to make it known. First impressions can be very deceiving, and the French respect anybody who persists.

That may be part of it - I tend towards the reserved side myself - but I know in New Zealand, and everywhere I suspect, there are always people who point at immigrants who "refuse to integrate". And then you become one yourself and you realise, well duh, it can be a real pain in the arse trying to forge a friendship with someone across cultural and linguistic barriers, so no wonder the native people of whatever country often aren't queueing up to do so when they have their own lives and friends nicely in order.

I found my neighbors in the Dordogne to be exceedingly curious about me, to the point where they could hardly keep themselves away. When they found out I could actually converse with them, they couldn't stop finding excuses to come by and chat and pester me with questions.

I've lived in a building with 6 flats in it for a year and I could literally count on my fingers the number of times I've seen any of my neighbours - seen as in bumped in to in the hallway, not seen as in social gatherings! And I think at least two of those was the day I moved in. Nice and quiet though!

I have never had an expensive dirty hotel room in France logos( and I mean over decades of hotel stays) .. sorry if your hotel searching skills were lacking.

Snails are yummy, ,blood sausage, not so much.

My husband and I recently returned to the US after spending 18 months in Languedoc (a wonderful experience). One thing to consider is that if you plan to be in France for a year, you'll need to provide an address for the OFII and register with them (in the department that you're living in) when you arrive. They'll send you info on a mandatory appointment that's necessary to validate the visa you rec'd from the consulate in the US. After that, you'll be able to move to another area but you should plan to spend at least 3-4 months in one place when you first arrive.
Another thing to consider is transportation. Do you want the freedom a car gives you? If not, make sure you're located near a train station. We heard that some Super U markets lease cars at a reasonable price for 1-2 years.
Although we would have loved to explore other areas in France, we found that even after 18 months, we had only begun to scratch the surface of what to see and do in Languedoc. We took day trips to historical sites, vineyards, a mid-winter truffle market, the Roquefort cheese caves, the oyster beds in the Etang d'Thau, and local markets and vide greniers ("yard sales"). Looking back on it, staying in one location gave us a sense of "home". We've returned to Languedoc once and it did, indeed, feel like we were back home. Had we moved a few times during our time there, I think we would have stayed in a "tourist" frame of mind. The AngloInfo websites ("www.angloinfo.com") are good sources of information.

justineparis, problem is the general lack of clean and super cheap accomodations that are so plenty in the countries east of France. So basically, when travelling to France, I take my camper bus, although I'd prefer a 30€ clean hotel room incl. breakfast, there aren't any.

@temuskia - the OP has an EU passport - no visa or OFII registration required.

You need to stay at the F1 chain, logos -- clean and super cheap for less than 30€ (generally about 26€). Breakfast is an extra 3.95€.

There are still 260 of them all over France.

temuskia, did you take some notes to share?

Kerouac, stayed there once. Awful chain, all in plastic, but would stay there again, if they were located abywhere I'd want to be. Most of them are in Paris or Lyon.

TDudette, I wrote a blog during our time there but don't know if it would have any pertinent notes. What do you want to know? If I can't answer, perhaps I can point you to another source who can.

Logos : there are 270 F1 hotels in France and they're not all in Paris and Lyon.

Here they are on a map: http://www.hotelf1.com/gb/booking/map-search.shtml

Pvoyageuse, what's so bad aboud acepting the facts 87 in Paris and 42 in Lyon. Franve is big and if you only have one hotel chain... So it's the campground and that's o.k. Where I want to stay is away from the big cities.

Logos: there is nothing bad about it. Stay wherever you like, it is your choice, your trip and your money.

Fine, logos, just don't tell mistruths about French hotel prices. You are free to stay wherever you want. You might also want to check out Première Classe, Fast Hôtel, Akena, B&B, Ibis Budget (formerly Etap) and quite a few others. And the famous <i>hôtels de sous-préfecture</i> in many small towns are the same price.

Even in my neighbourhood in Paris, the price of hotel rooms is 25€-30€ (none of which are part of a chain). You are only blind if you want to be. And you have made it clear that you want to be.

Bon voyage!

Just for the record, I even photographed the price signs in Paris on this thread: http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=3582&page=1

Very interesting discussion as we may be considering a long term visit to Europe, but unsure of where to locate.