“Get involved,” they urged. That’s how you get around on this big campus, make it feel a little smaller. Clutching the copy of the paper that I had studied so meticulously that morning, I strutted into the basement. I say strut because I was trying to show that I was confident, that I wasn’t a little freshman and that I deserved a spot on the staff.

“You’re a design dog!” they cried, followed by gifs and pictures of puppies and poodles dressed as humans or whatever else crawled from the corners of the Internet. 

“Привет,” they said to my confusion. I learned more about Russia and its language than I ever expected to know while in this basement. Can I speak it? No. Can I understand it? No. But, I’ll always think of the copy desk and this basement whenever someone mentions Russia.

I can never have any regrets about skipping into this basement freshman year. Everything is a learning experience, and this was one. While I did learn a lot about newspaper design and AP style and perfect grammar, I learned more about people, and how interesting everyone’s lives and loves and beliefs are, and what it looks like to see passion in his or her eyes. I learned about my campus, and my newfound city and the world around me. I learned about good music, and vegetarian/vegan dishes and that it is possible to eat pizza for like two weeks straight and still get excited when the Dominos guy walks in the room. 

It’s been a good run, Daily Texan. Thanks for everything.

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