OCTOBER 2008

This school year is flying past.  Sometimes when I have time to slow down and look back on my two and a half years here at the Academy, I wonder…  what helped me get this far?  The one thing that comes to mind is my friends.  Constant motivation, help on homework, sarcasm, and teasing from them gets me through each day.  I don’t know what I would do or where I would be without my friends.  If I am stuck in a rut, I know that they are there to help me out.  My family supports me and is a great motivator, but they are 2,000 miles away.  It is hard for them to relate to what I am going through each day, especially since I am the only person in my family to have joined the military.  Academically, this year has been exponentially harder than third class or fourth class year; I never thought I would say that!  I have more time to do my work, but the workload is at a completely different level in difficulty.

This weekend I will be in Boston for a rugby playoff game against MIT.  Our season has been going well, we are in Division 4, so we cream a lot of teams, which is always fun.  Next year we are looking to move up to Division 3 for some real competition.  Despite being injured with a bruised rib and having to sit out a home game, this season has been a blast.  I am excited to play this weekend; it should be a good game… I’m sure MIT is going to have their hands full playing us; Coast Guard women’s rugby players are savage.

For the first time, I am not going home to Minnesota for Thanksgiving leave this year.  Plane tickets are too expensive!  I am going to stay with my friend in Massachusetts.  Hopefully we will get a chance to go up to Mount Snow in Vermont to get some preseason snowboarding in!  It will be nice to relax and have some time off from school.  But I still cannot wait to get home over Christmas leave for a longer period.  I really want to see my family. 

Good luck on your applications…
Sincerely,

2/c Caitlin Cunningham

Caitlin.B.Cunningham@uscga.edu