I also have lived in Miami for over 4 years and currently work for the U. If anyone has any questions about the city, feel free to PM me. I agree with drshazam though, you either love it or hate it. If you like everyone to be the same or you're Caucasian and aren't used to being the minority, it can be different initially. Personally, I love all the culture here. Working at the U (w/ attendings/residents/fellows), I can tell you that the docs are mostly hispanic but are also from every other country (we have mostly brazil, lebanon, pakistan, japan, and germany represented in my department) so you definitely have to get used to hearing other languages. Do you have to speak Spanish? No, but I guarantee you that it helps...there are parts of Miami where even the pt's PCPs don't speak english (many practices are not licensed in the shadier parts of town and it's not uncommon for people to randomly get ABX or other meds from shady pharmacies). There are translators (either in person, or on the phone) available at all the hospitals but they won't be at your local supermarket which, if you're far south, can be an issue (the school/downtown/brickell/beach area is not like that 🙂 ). The medical campus is actually in downtown, not coral gables.
I'm from the northeast...while the weather is AMAZING, it is a culture shock when you first get down here. If you're open to new experiences and meeting amazing people though, you'll really enjoy your time here.
And yes, living here is expensive. My single 1 bed in downtown (right next to Brickell, a part of town where a lot of med students/residents live) is 1500/month. If I moved 1/4 mile to brickell it would be a min of 1650/month. Brickell and downtown are mostly new high-rise buildings. Coral gables (more suburbia) tends to be more student-budget friendly but commuting may be painful (right now, it takes me under 5 min to drive to work). My (vegetarian, female) grocery bill is about 60/week (and i use super target, not publix- the "nice" grocery store haha). Gas is fairly average- the lowest i've seen where i live is 3.80ish (though it's more downtown, 4.05, for convenience).
There's a rail that goes from the coral gables campus to the medical campus which takes about 15-20 minutes. Runs every 10ish (miami time, so more like 11-12) min during rush hours, but every 30 min on the weekends and after 830 pm. metrorail/mover stops at midnight...not sure about the buses because i've never taken them.
Overall, it's been a great experience living here, I hope to continue doing so. Let me know if there's anything else I can offer.
to everyone! hope they some love our way for even confronting this beastly secondary.
