Preparations..,

So, now that we have a place in SF (house hunting was oh-so-fun), there is so much that I have to do, according to UCSF.

Recommendations:
1) If you don't have Healthcare Provider CPR already, look around for a class. You're going to need it for the rest of your career, so you might as well do it now.

2) If you work in healthcare and have already had the surface antibody test for your Hep B or for Rubella, save it (I did). It'll save you another lab test.

3) Do your first PPD early. You have to do two of them, so I'm off to do mine this week. Fortunately, I work in a clinic that does pre-natal care, so they do routine PPDs and I can just sneak in and sneak out.

4) Craigslist for apartments was helpful, but so were friends. The "Places for Students" website that UCSF has is pretty good, but limited. If you have to relocate, I suggest looking early. The market for us was pretty easy- even though people are saying it's tough for renters, I think that's an idea perpetuated by forms of media. My experience was that apartments stayed on the market for 2 months, and I watched the rents drop a little before I started looking. Then again, I started looking in March in order to get a good place...

Oh yeah, and we found one. We have a spot in Cole Valley that's about a 3/4 mile walk to UCSF for me. Now I just keep my fingers crossed that my clinical placement will be there too!
Sigh.