I did rotation at Jackson Park Hospital, so students if you are looking to find a place to stay near to JPH at an affordable price, look no further. Since I assume many students come here for their first rotation or 1st or 2nd Month in the US, I will try to tell you some other basic things that you gotta know.
I think my review can also apply for people/students who are not attending jph as well.
1. Location: The first thing that comes to mind when searching for a place in south Chicago is the neighborhood. Though you have to keep in mind that any city is not safe after sunset especially after 8 PM in the night unless you are in a car. So never walk alone in any streets at nights. If you are new to the country, search on the web for basic stuff to know when in US.
That being said, the house is located in a safe neighborhood. The streets are very calm and I have never noticed anything going wrong here. I practically walked everyday for 10 minutes to get to the bus stop at 7 AM. Never was a problem. Me and my friend walked once from the other bus stop that is 3 minutes away at 9 pm and had no problem. ( doesn't mean you can do it everyday, don't push your luck.) You have to walk around 10 minutes to get to the bus stop and take 71 bus which will take you to JPH in 5 minutes. You can also find bikes around the house so install Spin/Lime/Super pedestrian apps and add your credit cards to them in case the bus arrives late. Also look up the traffic rules if you want to drive them as they can be drastically different from your country. Also the house is also near a super market called Local market where you can buy all groceries. There are bus stops nearby where you can get on bus 75/28/6 which can take you to downtown and other places of interest as well.
To get the Ventra card (through which you can travel all CTA buses and trains except Metra trains) (different from metro trains) you have to go to the 69th redline station ( nearest station I found with Ventra Kiosk) from the house by taxi and buy the card in the kiosk there. Oh and there is a beach which is super nearby. Its almost as a private beach since there were very few people when we went there.
2. The house and the room : The house is a Duplex house. 4 rooms - 3 upstairs and 1 downstairs. Every room has 2 beds. If you are only one, then you get the whole room to yourself. total 3 bathrooms. 1 downstairs and 2 upstairs. 2 upstairs are the ones where you can bath. My room is on the upstairs. I think this is the biggest room in size. Super spacious, you get a closet too.
2a) Living room :There is a living room with a printer, card games, 2 couches, and important stationary too. When I stayed we also got some magazines every Sunday.
2b) kitchen - Kitchen is super spacious. It has everything. Caroline provides a lot of stuff. rice cooker, microwave oven, other oven, grill oven I guess, many utensils to use, water heater, many types of sauces I have never heard of before, Dishwasher, etc..., Man I loved the kitchen. There is a table where all our housemates used to sit eating and talking a lot! That was our meeting place. We had lots of fun there. There is another big dining table in the living room where you can dine as well. There is a fridge which will be divided based on the rooms and I had no problems with it. But it could be a little I guess if there were 2 people living in a room. But I cant comment on that. But still big enough fridge, definitely not small. Also there are garbage bags near sink cabinet. Please throw out the garbage yourself. It just takes 2 minutes. If someone else also does it then its great but don't wait and expect someone else to do it.
2c) Basement - Basement consists of Washing machine and dryer. Caroline provided us with detergent fluid too. They work like charm.
2d) Bathrooms - Again Caroline provided body wash, Shampoo, Moisturizer etc. which were more than enough. Just follow some basic rules in the bathroom which Caroline explains the first time.
Also people who are first time in the US and first time using toilet paper, Toilet paper in the US is flushable. Please flush it after using. Not kidding. But keep in mind not to flush a bunch of toilet paper at a time because obviously it will get clogged. If you are not sure please search on the web and learn. The garbage bin in the bathroom is for any other stuff like hairs etc.
Also Please throw away the garbage in the bathrooms yourself.
2e)Backyard : There is a backyard which you most probably wont use but the most important part of it is that a few cats stay there. They never bother you, They just stay there and maybe sometimes you can see them near front door meowing for food. So Caroline had cat food and requested if any of us could just feed them once a day. Its the only meal for the cats. Caroline comes and cleans all the food bowls of cats. You just have to put the food in the bowls and put it there. I encourage you to do so because 1. poor cats and 2. Its the only meal they can get. Its not mandatory but a great gesture and gratitude towards the cats and Caroline since she provides you with such a fantastic house for such an affordable price.
3. Host - Caroline is