With days turning into weeks, some individuals students, staff, faculty and alumni in the Columbia community are turning to imprisoned halflings, the video game “Animal Crossings: New Horizons,” “out of this world” pesto sauce and Baby Yoda to stave off boredom while self-isolating.

Kent Anderson, a part-time faculty member in the Business and Entrepreneurship Department, is using the time at home to upload music he made from his college days, a project he originally wanted to finish in the summer.

Anderson is taking old cassette tapes of his jazz band from college, loading them into audio editing software and exporting them to send to his friends.

“It’s nothing but really great memories,” he said. “I have no desire to sit on the sofa and watch daytime television.”

Anderson also was able to play with his jazz trio over a Zoom conference call. Between setting up instruments and commuting to each other’s homes, in the past a jazz session would take him five hours—but only took one hour via Zoom.

He scheduled a second session with the trio within the week. Before the “shelter-in-place” mandate, it took 8 weeks for the trio to schedule just two sessions.

“We’ve all got time; it’s very easy and completely safe,” he said.

In addition to music, Anderson uses cooking to take his mind off the world, he said.

He likes to cook Italian food, and so far, he has cooked a brine, a “beautiful” turkey breast and an “out of this world” pesto sauce, which he found in a recipe book. Anderson has cooked all this food before, but never in the same week—he never had the time.

“We should all be viewing this as an opportunity to do self-improvement projects and work on our goals,” Anderson said.

Ryan Patel, a doctor of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio State University, has been writing about emotional fitness and some things we can do to stay emotionally well during the pandemic. Patel said people should have goals that keep them mentally engaged, and while we should physically distance, he said we shouldn’t socially distance from people.

“A lot of times our minds can view things negatively,” Patel said. “One thing I would recommend people do is actually… flip the script a little bit in [their minds] and think what are some of the advantages of this situation.”

Nico Gutierrez, a 2017 M.F.A. music composition for the screen alumnus, is finding he now has more time to spend with his boyfriend, Marcus Andre, a 2016 interdisciplinary alumnus and an office worker for a home service company, as they are shelter-in-place together.

Gutierrez, a composer and piano teacher, is still teaching piano lessons through webcam during self-isolation. Gutierrez said he is busier now that “parents are going crazy with their kids at home.”

When he is not working, Gutierrez might be playing “Animal Crossing,” a game where you develop your own island. He said he and Andre, a 2016 interdisciplinary alumnus, are “addicted.”

Remaining at home is a lifestyle shift for Andre and Gutierrez who previously liked to have people over or try new cuisine at restaurants. They also frequented Dice Dojo—5550 N. Broadway—a place to play board games, but Andre has had to substitute weekly “Dungeons and Dragons” campaigns over Skype for the activity.

Gutierrez has experience spending time at home after working remotely as a composer in Los Angeles after completing Columbia’s “Semester in L.A.” program. Gutierrez said he felt depressed during that time because his life was unscheduled.

“It’s hard,” Gutierrez said. “You’re in the same place all the time.”

Scheduling out his day has helped him bring a sense of normalcy to his life.

Others like Kira Berkoff, a junior illustration major who recently returned home to Hubertus, Wisconsin, are keeping their brain healthy by using this time to “evolve as a person.”

For Berkoff’s family, it is maple syrup season. And for a few weeks a year, the temperature will be perfect for harvesting maple syrup—above freezing during the day, below freezing at night. Berkoff, who lives with her mother and step-father, has helped her father bottle and sterilize maple syrup for the past few years. But this year she will not.

Berkoff’s father—who harvests maple syrup—is an OB-GYN at Ascension Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With the coronavirus spreading throughout the country, they both agreed it would be best if they did not see each other.

“I miss him,” Berkoff said. “I’d love to see him, but with the risk analysis, it makes more sense to not [see him] right now.”

Berkoff normally uses weight lifting as an escape to shut off “nervous energy and anxiety,” but no longer has access to a gym. She also loves baking, but has not been able to bake for her coworkers on campus, and has had to cancel trips to see her boyfriend in California. “It’s definitely lonelier,” Berkoff said.

But Berkoff is not using this time to sulk.

“I had my 10 minutes of being super upset about the situation,” Berkoff said. “My emotions don’t change the circumstances, so I might as well try and find some positive outlook on it.”

Berkoff is trying to exercise a minimum of three days a week and is mixing in more cardio and bodyweight exercises.

She is also taking on art projects her normal schedule would not allow. For one, Berkoff is considering working with clay, while also designed some greeting cards and tattoo designs.

A major project she is “so close” to finishing is a Baby Yoda cross stitch as a present for her mother.

“You have to look through a terrible situation and something murky, muddy and otherwise unpleasant [and think] ‘What can I pull through this that’s beautiful?’” Berkoff said. “If I just sit and mope the entire time, it’s going to be miserable.”