If you've never checked out www.expat-blog.com, I strongly recommend you do so. They've been around for seven years and they're fairly popular. As I mentioned in Part 3 of my work permit series, you should be checkout out expat blogs for your target country to learn more about the expat experience there and to possibly make contacts.
The expat-blog.com Web site has a nicely organized selection of blogs from expats around the world (here's mine) and it's a great way to get a feel for the issues that expats face.
Recently they've released two new sections dedicated to jobs and housing in France. This can help you understand what sort of work opportunities there are and how much you're going to pay for rent when you first move there.
Be warned: you can lose a lot of time having fun reading through their information :)
