Editor's note: A 30 column is a chance for departing permanent staff to say farewell and reflect on their time spent in The Daily Texan’s basement office. The term comes from the old typesetting mark (-30-) to denote the end of a line.

I often find myself surprised when I keep coming back to the Daily Texan basement, but after two years, I find myself descending the steps for one last night of work.

As a bilingual education major with little real interest in writing or reporting, I never thought I would work on a newspaper, but when my roommate told me that the Texan was starting a web department and needed members, I figured why the hell not. I felt completely out of place, surrounded by people who had worked together for at least a year, and was in a foreign setting, with newspaper jargon being thrown left and right and me not sure what the hell it meant.

After the first web editor left, I was quickly given the mantle of responsibility and made my own web team. Now, two years later as the social media editor, I couldn’t feel more at home.

I’ve tried to leave before, but I couldn’t pull myself away from this new family I had bonded with, and had to help however I could. Even though I know I will never forget the time and experiences I’ve had here, I know I will miss working at the Texan more than anything.

Some things I’ll remember:

Working late night and early morning shifts to make sure that the paper’s content went online and spread through the Web and responding to our readers’ comments via our site and Twitter and Facebook pages.

Having the immense support from Doug and Jennifer to acclimate me to the fast-paced setting of the newsroom, and amazing managing editors like Veronica and Lena to help out the new blood, and Audrey, Aleks, and Trey to help me iron out any problems.

Having Hayley and the amazing Web staff to work through the night with, and many bleary-eyed mornings, as well as going through three versions of the website. 

Working together with the department heads to fix any problems that might have come up. Coming into the office and hearing Jody’s singsong voice, and knowing that there was a very good chance that a plate of her baked goods was not far off. Having Elyana nearby to let me know what was going on in the office and #BowTieBobby to share a laugh with. 

If I’m completely honest, I still feel a bit out of place writing this column, as if I’ve walked in on someone else’s scene. But even though a newsroom is one of the last places I thought I would find myself, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything — Except maybe for all the sleep I’ve lost.

-30-