It's just stupid

You've seen it on TV, you've watched it in movies, you've read about it in the papers/books. Regardless of how you've heard about it, I'm sure you know about "hazing/initiation".
Going through Frosh Week at university wasn't too big of a deal. I know that my year probably had it a lot easier because just prior it went out of hand, so the university tightened their grip on the whole situation and we got the "nice" side of the pendulum. Our week was definitely set up to be all about warm fuzzies.
The varsity team was worse, and while I embarrass easily, it was still fun. Dressing up like idiots and having stuff written and drawn all over our faces while we paraded around town and into bars...it really wasn't that bad because there was a group of us and it was truly a bonding experience. We spent most of it a a person's house doing embarrassing things, so we weren't even in public for most of the night. And once we were in public, the way we were dressed and the sign that I wore saying "I stroke long and hard" (equally amusing were other people's signs...among them: "Let me should you my spread eagle", "Let me ride you like a zamboni, slow and steady" and "Let me pivot on your pick") made it quite obvious that we were getting rookied.
The first experience with a serious team was even worse. We were segregated at someones cottage (although I guess that meant that we were safe from seeing people we knew) and between going out in town and making a fool out of ourselves and running into the lake when we really didn't want to...looking back at it now, it really wasn't too bad. I just didn't like it, because at the time I didn't feel comfortable enough around the people that I was with. I think that's what makes the difference. It's not like I didn't trust them in that they would maliciously hurt me, I just didn't have a personal bond with them yet, and a lot of them were just so different from me that I just felt awkward about the whole thing. Oh, and I guess that was my first experience sleeping in a tent too, which was a little weird.
I've recently had another initiation experience. It wasn't too bad. Actually, very similar to the second last experience. I guess similar traditions run in the same circles. I do have to tell you about one thing that we did.

So okay, I get that making people do embarrassing things is funny and that it's a good way for people to have something to bond over, but this is just stupid.

4L of milk. 1 hour. (one litre every 15 minutes or else some sort of physical activity to make you shake around the milk in your body)

As for me, the first 15 minutes was fine. 25 minutes in, I'd decided that I wanted to stop, not just because I was full, but because of what was happening around me. The premise of this wasn't...*cheer* *cheer* "you can do it!"...it was more like..."puke, puke!!" and "the further it goes, the better it is!" These are people who are supposed to be taking good care of their bodies who encourage something that is obviously damaging. I don't throw up very often (which apparently was "soooo amazing" that I got extra points towards my tally for keep down all the other stuff that we had to ingest in the prior activity) so I was just hanging out, sipping my milk as 6 people around me were throwing up to cheers, camera flashes and videotaping. I haven't lost complete respect for them, I just think it's stupid. (I have to say, it was obvious that some of them were clearly uncomfortable watching us go through this, so I do still have some people that I think are sane.) One of them threw up about 6 or 7 times in total throughout the whole gong-show. One other person had plain out stopped before I did because they were fed up with the whole situation. One of the pukers was crying from the pain. Sure, I push through pain on many occasions, but again...this was just stupid. They shouldn't have had to get to that point. Another person and I also learned that since your body can't break down the milk fast enough, it sits in you and just grows and grows in your gut. Pre-pepto bismol, we were both very uncomfortable. The other person kept trying to throw up, hoping that it would make them feel better. We both realized that milk farts are really stinky. The Pepto was great...soon after I felt a lot better, but it really wasn't worth it. Again, I repeat, the whole idea was just stupid, and due to this, I am afraid to drink milk. Something that is so nutritious and probably encouraged for us to drink (potentially more so than some other people) is actually feared.
Re-reading this post makes me realize that it didn't do this experience justice. I'm still disgusted about the whole situation...it's just stupid.