This semester, I gave up talking to Buddha and started praying to The Daily Eastern News.

Since I transferred here almost two years ago, I’ve called the newspaper home. I didn’t mean for it to be that way, but before I knew it, I was worshiping the newspaper like I had seen the inky light, treating it like the next great world religion.

I became a slave to the newsroom, writing and editing by day and dreaming about the steady hum of computers at night. I learned an equal amount about life and journalism, and now I see the world like a true newspaper freak addicted to halogen lighting.

Here are tales from the inside as well as life’s lessons I knew I had to find outside of the newsroom:

1. A serious environment does not always have to stay that way. Have fun with it. Even though The News is a college newspaper, I’ve seen professional moments in the newsroom when everyone’s diligently typing stories in time to meet deadline and the phones are alive with hungry college journalists interviewing sources.

Maybe it’s for sanity reasons or because every student needs a release from the grind of classes, but the newsroom can quickly spiral into a chaotic preschool battle.

There’s food fights, stripping, jumping on tables and rude jokes. I’d like to think that’s not too far removed from some professional environments where it’s good to remove the pressure for a while.

2. If you work for a newspaper, you can treat the Associated Press wire service like a guide to “adult” life.

Most newspapers will subscribe to the service so they can receive news stories they don’t have the resources to localize, providing readers with the top local, national and international stories every day.

Pursuing the server’s contents, one can find everything from reports of storm warnings to news of new drug dangers and suggestions on what to wear.

Curious about the international space station or what’s really in brand-name peanut butter? The wire service can help.

3. Joining a group in college can be the path to enlightenment. The News showed me responsibility and the joy of working with others who have common interests. It showed me how passion can sometimes take you farther than most emotions. It opened me up to just how unpredictable life can be.

It led me to friends who have been there for me more than anyone ever has been before. Most groups would do some of those same things for anyone.

If you transfer in and skip residence hall life, joining one of more than 140 campus recognized student organizations can allow you to meet lasting friends, a special someone or those you know you can be thankful you won’t have to see again after graduation.

4. Your job can’t give you everything. You can’t have bad Mexican in a cheesy restaurant, walk barefoot, volunteer for a marathon or win a Black Jack tournament if you never leave a place like The News. Almost all news happens outside of a newsroom anyway.

If I had to go through college all over again, I would have gone to more RSO meetings, listened longer to strangers, made sure I drank more on Sundays and spent more time in meditation, a little less time in the newsroom.

The News taught me how far I could push myself, how both incredibly beautiful and harmful human actions can be and that simple encouragement can go a long way. I know I learned at least a few things in college I couldn’t record on a Scantron.