It sounds like we probably went to the same mission. I know of at least four others that were there with me from 89-91 that have left the church. Of those who I keep in contact with that are still TBM, 3 out of 4 ended up marrying french girls that they met on their mission. There was a reason why so many called our mission the 'wedding bell' mission rather than the official title of 'la belle misssion'.
I absolutely love traveling and experiencing new cultures and people. My mission was no different. I loved France, and the different cultures that exist in that country. After coming home from my mission, I quickly saved up money to go back. I ended up spending about a year and a half there twice living out of my backpack, and relying on my meager abilities as a musician to get by. I was able to experience a whole other side of France that I wasn't exposed to as a missionary. One of the best experiences of my life, and I owe that in part to my mission experience.
How wonderful that you went back so soon. I got married too quickly.
I served in the Toulouse mission, which was a hiss and a byword (during the times it existed, it was often closed) to the other missions, as far as we heard. We were often informed by our leaders that we were "the worst of the worst" (ie, the lowest baptizing french mission)
We're the mission that spawned all sorts of rumors, some based loosely in truth, others completely fabricated. But we did have our own urban legends making the rounds. I bet you heard them, too. My favorite - to encourage missionaries to never leave their comp's side, we shared stories of the elder who "bought the bread". The urban legend is that an elder decided to slip downstairs to the bakery to buy a loaf of bread (I once lived above a bakery, too). Since it was so nearby, he went alone. Alas, alack, there happened to be a prostitute "on duty" at that very moment in front of the bakery, so the elder, well, he.. "bought the bread". tee hee We used to joke and tell each other not to "buy the bread".
Another story was that in a mission to the north of us (probably belgium? not sure), there was once a small ville that had just a couple set of elders and one set of sisters. (I served in towns like that). Well, these missionaries were left there a very long time and became close. Then one month transfer news came in, and a couple of the missionaries were being moved. So one of the elders called the president and said "President, we can't be transferred. We're married". The story is that one set of elders fell in love with the sisters and they got married (not in a foursome, but two groups of two ;) We all loved that story.
And, of course, there were rumors that the Toulouse mission was the "apostate mission", ie, that a bunch of missionaries apostatized while serving. I think this one was loosely based in fact, as in the fifties a group of missionaries became converted to fundamentalist polygamy, and left their missions. Some joined up with the LeBaron group, If I recall correctly.
We felt like our mission was cursed for some reason, and also shared stories about missionaries from long ago "wiping the dust from their feet" in our area, and that's why we couldn't baptize anyone.