be sure and wear flowers in your hair

Sooooo, here goes: I'm moving to San Francisco to pursue my Nursing degree at UCSF. There were many, many factors that went into my decision-making process, and the hardest part- nay, the ONLY hard part, was knowing I will have to leave friends behind, but I know I won't lose them.

Most likely I will be moving August 28th. If this changes I will let you know ASAP.

The program is a Masters program for people who have non-nursing bachelors. I'll be in school for the same amount of time but come out with a better degree. Nurses in California are the highest paid in the country, so it will be a great place to start work, and I'll have my RN after only 1 year. The biggest positive with this program is that I'm already done with my prerequisites, so I can keep my job up until the second I start school. If I had gone with the Texas program I would have to quit my job to take a few more classes (American government to be an RN? Thank you, Texas public university!) before I even applied, and then potentially be out of work if for some reason I didn't make it into the program. Last time I was without a job it took me almost a year to find one, so I need to protect my employment as a back-up.

The reason I'm moving so quickly is that my best friend from high school, Brad, who currently lives there, has a "west coast Jamie" named Susie who recently took a post with my company. She is looking for a roommate come September 1st. She will be an ideal roommate for me as we will more than likely have overlapping travel schedules so I will have all the benefits of a roommate splitting the bills while still getting plenty of time to myself. With the competitive and expensive housing situation in San Francisco, it is more beneficial for me to move now and have a roommate and an apartment lined up than wait a few months and have neither. Plus, this gives me an opportunity to establish residency in California so I don't have to pay out-of-state tuition.

I'm home the rest of this week and next. July 20-27 I will be in Anaheim, CA, home from the 27th to August 3. August 3-10 I will be in DC, and 10-14 in Phoenix. I'll be here in Dallas the rest of the August, but will be working downtown 20-28th. I will more than likely be throwing a little going-away party Friday August 25th, so please mark that date down. I want to see you all before I go!

This might come as a shock to some of you, but rest assured I have been thinking about it, praying about it, and weighing my pros/cons for at least a month. This seems to be a really great step for me personally and professionally. I hope you will all come visit me on the West Coast!!