The only thing that I can think of to compare to what I am feeling right now is the second 500m in a 2k race. The 2k represents the four years at West Point and the second 500m is more specifically Yuck year. To be rather blunt, it sucks. In a 2k race the first 500m go by rather quickly and the pain of the race has not started to set in yet because adrenaline is pumping through the body. Sure, you're really nervous and feel like throwing up while you sit at the starting line and wait for the officals to count down, but then you finally start and everything becomes a blur as there's a rush of adrenaline. You're only thought is passing a boat and not getting passed. Before you know it you're done with the first 500m. As you reach the 1500m mark of the race you realize that you've only gone 500m and are not even half way done. The adrenaline rush starts to fade away and the pain starts to set in as the long haul begins. It doesn't help trying to focus on the finish because it's too far away and only serves to lessen the motivation to row. You think "this is taking forever and we're getting nowhere. Would it really be that bad if I just happend to fall out of the boat right now? What would happen if I just stopped rowing?" You, of course, keep rowing but only for the sheer fact that you don't want to screw over your teammates. Besides, you know deep down that if you quit right now you'd regret it later when the other boats finished. The 3rd 500m is only a little better because at least now you can say that you're in the 3 digits instead of 4. You're still thinking "why do I do this to myself? I never want to row again." The end is looking a little closer, but it doesn't help to think about the fact that you're half way done because the thought "Crap! It took that long to row the first 1000m and I still have 1000m more to go." Once you get to the last 500m you're almost done and there's another surge of adrenaline. It is the most painful part of the race, but you don't really care because you're almost done and the harder you row the sooner it will all be over. Then you hit the finish line and collapse, but feel a tremendous amount of accomplishment having survived the race and stuck with it.

As I said before, that is what West Point feels like. Plebe year you're focused on avoiding the upperclassmen and surviving to yuck year. It sucks, but since you're mainly focused on the present and being prepared for the next time someone asks you a piece of knowledge it all goes by rather quickly. Then comes Yearling Year. Plebe year you thought it'd be great to be a Yuck and were sure that all of the yearlings who were saying that it sucked were just trying to scare you. Now you realize that they were telling the truth. Graduation seems ages away and all of your P's seem to be ganging up on you. You're still only taking the required courses and haven't started you're major yet and so classes can be rather tedious and boring. The theme of the year seems to be "blame it on the yucks." You think "what am I getting myself into? I have 2 more years of this still and then at least 5 more after that. Do I really want to do this? Am I happy?" Cow year you at least have started your major and are probably realizing that when the cows last year said "you're an idiot if you major in __" but you still do anyways, you should have listened to them. Firstie year finally comes and all you can think about is how many days there are untill graduation for the class of __. It's so close that you can almost taste it. Soon this will all be over and you know that what you've heard is true; the moment you through you're cover into the air at graduation really is the best momement of your life up to that point. Right now, however, you just have to keep pulling through the pain.