Living in Grenoble now, in the south... MUCH nicer than Paris. Paris is literally a giant urinal for frenchman... stale piss, feces, exhaust, and cigarette smoke. Other than the smell there is a LOT of culture, a LOT of hot chicas, and SOME good food. If you like rich,rich,rich tasting food you'll be in heaven. If you like veggies, meat, and rice you'll be SOL unless you have your own kitchen. Eat Kebabs avec Pomme Frites... friggin sweet, mayonaise is great with pomme frites.
I'll 2nd pimsleur french CDs as a good start, he claims to turn your enlgish vocab into french... if you take french lessons in France be prepared to learn french style... no text, no reference to english, straight up gesturing and talking teaching style... all in French, you'll get used to it.
Even a little French goes a long way to making the French friendly... open up with a Pardon, excuse moi... Vous Vous parlez Anglais? Most speak a little and will be MUCH friendlier than if you open up with english.
European drivers are NOT crazy, they just pay attn... seriously, if you want to merge over 4 lanes? just hit the blinker (or not) and start turning, people will move... not much of that macho "right of way" BS here in the states, they do NOT want to get in an accident. So since they pay attn, they're a lil more free wheelin on the road. takes a bit to get used to. Also highway driving is a godsend... when you come up behind someone, they get over. when you need to merge onto the highway, they make space. when someone is only getting into the passing lane to pass, they'll leave their left blinker on then get right back over. If there is traffic ahead you don't see people toss their hazards on to let you know... etc etc etc. its because driving is a privaledge over here, and very expensive. but Mass trans gets you everywhere anyways, so you don't even need a car.
People here do stink... went into a very large bank, very proffesional... a not so subtle hint of BO the sec i walk in the door, like the urinal smell you'll just have to deal. i've seen plenty of shaved armpits on the ladies here, not so much on the unshaved... ymmv. my 2c