So I found out a little bit about the host family I'll be staying with. I'll be with a single mom who has three grown kids and 12 grandkids. There will also be a French student staying at "my" house who's studying law, so that should be fun. I'm about 1/2 a mile away from the IES center so I'll be able to walk to school every day. 

The first night I'm there, I'll spend the night at my host family's house, then the next day I leave for Vannes for a couple days for orientation. Vannes is about an hour and a half north of Nantes, but I don't know much about it.  

I'll be staying in Nantes which is southwest of Paris. I have a host mom and I'll be close to the IES center. I leave for France September 2. 

Wiki page on Nantes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantes