When I say 'pop culture,' I mean: What is the most popular movie at the moment? What are the hit songs? Who is the bestseller at the bookstore? What television series are people watching? Even 'country bumpkins' know things like that.

uhoh_busted, I started listening to <b>France Inter</b> from the moment I arrived in Paris in 1973, and it is still basically the only radio station that I listen to. I wake up to it in the morning and I go to sleep to it every night. It taught me practically everything I know about France.

http://www.franceinter.fr/

I agree about TV, though ours only got three channels, including what my kids called "The Goose Channel," where the "news" was all about who'd shot Farmer Jacques off his tractor down in the valley, how the pisciculture of the Dordogne was coming along, and what kind of profits the foie gras and caviar industries were making.

When I got into discussions with neighbors, though, it was usually complaint fests about their meager pensions, the foreigners moving into the neighborhood, the outrageous prices at the Intermarché, who was inn the rehab center in Cadouin, what the corn crop was expected to be like....pop culture of a sort, I guess. At any rate, I learned loads from long discussions with my neighbors over the years. And contrary to some people's experiences, I actually spent a good deal of time with them - they would come by with garden offerings, eggs, boudin, and other treats, or just to sit and have an apéro with me. Of course, that didn't happen overnight, but it did happen, and I loved it and learned a LOT from it.

I recommend you study, work or volunteer witha French organisation or institution - gets you in touch with locals in a "normal" environment, gives you an excuse not to be tour guide for all your friends from home, will improve your French exponentially, gives structure to your daily life and will no doubt enrich your life in other ways. Have fun!

http://www.letsrentpropertyinfrance.com

Here is a site for long term rentals. I do not have experience using them for rentals but thought it might be useful.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...ern-france.cfm

And here is another thread on retiring to france. Not really specific to your questions but may give you an idea of various places.

Imagine I wouldn't care for working in an organized, cooperative and productive way, imagine I wouldn't want everybody to have and follow rules and laws, imagine I'd like chaos in all aspects of life, imagine I'd call a "friend" I hardly know at 11pm to discuss Sartre, imagine I would eat snails and call them fish, imagine I wouldn't care getting only expensive and dirty hotel rooms, imagine I wouldn't want to eat decent bread and drink good beer, imagine

I were French...

But since I'm Bavarian, I can't imagine all those things. Life is good here, at least a lot better than anywhere in France. However it says a lot more about the place someone comes from than about France, if that someone wants to move there.

I have French relatives..., they know what I'm talking about

"imagine I'd call a "friend" I hardly know at 11pm to discuss Sartre"
You need to update. Discussing Sartre? Nobody does, it's so out.


"I have French relatives..."

Pöor things !

>Pöor things !
I know, but what can you do...

In most French cities there is an organization called "Accueil": Nantes Accueil, Lille Accueil, Nice Accueil, etc.....
The purpose is to help and welcome newcomers. They offer a lot of activities : bike hikes, walks, language lessons, quilting lessons, etc... It is a nice way to meet people.

Logos,

Is your French relative M. Chauvin by any chance?

"Pöor things !
I know, but what can you do..."

Offer my condolences, I suppose.

Too bad people are not flocking to wonderful Bavaria. They don't know what they're missing.

Oh, I forgot to ask "eat snails and call them fish" -- what on earth is that supposed to mean?

LOL kerouac snails are mussels, but not fish, you don't fish for mussels you collect at the beach.
There are on fact already too many people in Bavaria, better send them to Paris.

Snails are mussels? When did this happen? Is that what you call them along the shores of the Bavarian ocean?

Perhaps you have never encountered the word "molluscs"?

You would need to speak German to understand this.
French lacks many words that other languages have. It's easier to learn, but it's not as "rich" in words as many other languages.

Well, it looks like German is lacking sufficent words if Germans think that snails and mussels are the same thing.

Try this to increase your linguistic knowledge:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mollusca