Learned COBOL in the 90s as an undergraduate at university. Took it at the same time as PC Assembly language (woefully 16 bit).
I had less trouble with assembly than COBOL at the time I'm afraid.
They're both weird beasts, but once I learned the C calling conventions for assembly, I was able to make a lot more sense of the assembly.
COBOL is a world unto itself. I didn't hate it, but I didn't think I saw a career in it either.
I'm just glad I opted not to take RPG :-)