On Tuesday morning, Sara Haines began her first day as co-host of The View with a severe crick in her neck.

"I slept funny," she explains in a phone interview. "So, here I have this big day I've been waiting and preparing for...I thought, I hope they sit me somewhere I won't have to look to the left!"

She needn't have worried, though. Haines quickly hit her stride, launching the show's 20th season alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Paula Faris, Raven-Symoné, Candace Cameron Bure, Joy Behar and Jedediah Bila.

"I like being with a group," she says. "I've had the most fun when I'm with people, so to be at a table with four others every time I sit down, it feels like you're always eating with the cool kids."

Though she's appeared on the show before, Haines says that she's ready to challenge herself as she takes on the role in a more permanent capacity. One question she often asks herself is: "I always have opinions, that's not hard, but how do I communicate those clearly and concisely?"