What better way to enter the depths of Hell, than to become a Rook at Norwich University? Most of what goes on during your first week, and then on through January, is a verbal slaughter-fest. You are forced into an environment with minimal sleep, other’s expectations beyond your abilities, and a maroon bass ball cap (Rook Cover) that says “Rook” on the front of it in big gold letters; as if you did not already have a giant target on your back already.
Day Zero of the week and you have not even been given the chance, or the amount of time, to learn the name of the person next to you; and you are rushed into your rooms, and you are told to get changed into half PT gear. “Hurry up! Get out on the wall! It doesn’t take this long to get changed!” is all you hear as you struggle to tie your shoes while the Cadre are banging and kicking your door. Once you finally get out of your room, your …show more content…
You leave your family but unlike most colleges, you can’t talk to them other than ten minutes on Sunday nights, at 21:15 (9:15pm). The being away from my family part of this school, I can deal with, but it is the lack of communication that is the hardest. The hardest challenges I had to overcome have been all mental, not physical. Can I push myself to get up, and complete that next pushup? Can I run two miles without stopping? Can I make it without my family’s direct support, and being able to talk with them? All of these things are mental; because at the end of the day, the mind can push the body harder, further, and faster than anything else. Family is a big deal to a lot of people, and if rook week dose one good thing for you, it makes you forget about any outside entities. This is not a bad thing. You do not feel as home sick, you do not have sad thoughts about leaving your family as much, and they force you to, in a way, make a family of your own, right here at