My 2016 fall semester at the University of Florida was rough. I finished with my lowest GPA (3.28) in college and as a Type A person, this really messed with my head. I underestimated my first tests in two of my classes and did everything I could to recover as the semester went on. I recovered admirably, but I experienced depression for the first time in my life during that semester because I devoted a lot of time to studying but felt that it didn’t reflect in my final grades. By the end of the semester, I was just happy it was over. I changed my major, but was still on track to graduate early.
So, coming into the 2017 spring semester, I was apprehensive about my courses and made sure to not take anything lightly. Turns out, that semester was much easier and I didn’t have much to worry about. I got everything done way in advance and had a lot of time on my hands to be productive. I hung out with friends, took notes for screenplays, and spent time at the gym to get in shape.
In March, my roommate bought The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and spent countless hours playing the open-world masterpiece. It seemed like he was playing it every time I walked in the living room. I literally asked him, “Is it that good?”. Without hesitation, he responded, “Oh yeah,”. He then handed me the controls while he took a call from a family member and just told me to do whatever. I played for an hour and just got engrossed in the world and going around trying to solve certain puzzles, fight different enemies, or climb to the highest points of the map. I really enjoyed my experience with Breath of the Wild and there was a certain lightness I felt while playing it. I didn’t feel the pressure of exams or assignment deadlines from my classes and it was fantastic, even if it was just for an hour.
While Breath of the Wild provided a nice relief from school, it did not compare to the three week marathon of Super Smash Bros. my roommates and I enjoyed toward the end of the spring semester. Somehow, our classes lined up in such a way that we didn’t have any exams for the same two-week period at the end of March and beginning of April. At first, I was relatively low-key during our matches. I was just going from character to character losing many times until I came upon Link and learned how to use him. I did work as Link and I became extremely competitive as I started to win some matches. I was instigating Smash matches, talking trash, and throwing out all types of vituperative language when I lost. It was mainly for show as my roommates were cracking up, but there were a few matches where I was genuinely frustrated at the result or I questioned my teammate’s tactics as we were losing. Unfortunately, the marathon came to an end as we all had to start studying for final exams, but my brief dalliance with Nintendo in 2017 still has me debating whether I should buy a Switch in the next year or so.
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