The newsroom I’m working in this summer is vastly different from the one I’m used to at the Kansan.

The first and most obvious difference is the size. The Inquirer Building has 15 floors, two of which make up the newsroom. I haven’t ventured to most of the other 13, but the cafeteria’s on four. The newsroom is set up as a sea of cubicles, with a few aisles and printer islands in between. Banners hanging from pillars in the aisles indicate where each news department is, just in case you get lost – yes I have.

Everyone has their own cubicle. In your cubicle, you get a computer, phone (unless you’re me), cabinets, and enough desk space to decorate or stack everything you’ve done since coming here. My only decorations are instructions for making battle hamsters and a printout of Mario’s miracle shot.

The cubicle setup is kind of depressing. I’m used to sitting across from someone else, which creates a more social setting. At the Kansan, it led me to crack jokes with others working and share funny goof-ups by the reporters. Here I face an aisle. It doesn’t talk much. All in all, the scene here is much less exciting and social than I’m used to in a newsroom. The fun of newsrooms was half of what made me love journalism.

Another strange adjustment is the paper’s style of headlines. That has more to do with the fact that I’m editing business, national and foreign stories. The headlines are straight ahead and get the news out, which makes them boring to write sometimes. I miss being able to write headlines for feature stories because they give me the opportunity to get creative or just plain corny with them.

But it is nice not having to do as much editing for individual stories. Most of the stories I edit come from the AP wire, so there has already been many eyes on them, not to mention a pair or two after me. Half the time the stories are free of mistakes, making work easier.

And did I mention it’s a nationally recognized newspaper? That’s reason enough to love the job in itself. I’m keeping up with the pros at the country’s third-oldest newspaper, and that’s pretty sweet.