I'm not gonna lie; I was pretty excited when "Pokemon Go" came out last month. Then again, I don't know many people who weren't. The app is fun, exciting, and a cool throwback to people who grew up playing or watching Pokemon. With "Pokemon Go" being so popular lately, I thought I'd write about my own experiences with the Pokemon franchise as a whole.

I played my first Pokemon game when I was nine years old. I've always had pretty nerdy hobbies and obsessions. "Yu-Gi-Oh," "World of Warcraft," you name it. If it was dorky, I probably loved it as a kid. Pokemon was never really on my radar, though. It wasn't until my kid brother got a Nintendo DS for his birthday that I became interested in Pokemon. He had gotten "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team" along with his birthday present, and I was j-e-a-l-o-u-s. I barely even knew what Pokemon was, but since Justin had gotten it, of course I had to have it.

So I marched over to my dad and presented him with a wad of cash; allowance I had been hoarding for over a year. It turns out I was $5 short of being able to buy my own DS, but that didn't deter me. I ran around the house looking for change under cushions and lone dollars bills I might have left in one of my many purses. My tenacity proved to be worthwhile. I scraped together the remaining $5 and my dad drove me to Toys R' Us that same day. I proudly handed the cashier my money in return for a pale pink Nintendo DS. My dad bought me my first game for it; "Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team."

Looking back on it, I think I tore through the story line of the game in one night. Somewhere along the line, it became less about wanting what my brother had and more about me actually liking it. The "Mystery Dungeon" games from the Pokemon franchise involved you accidentally being turned from a human into a Pokemon and joining a team that helped Pokemon in trouble. I was enamored by this. I thought the characters were super cute and also really cool, and the story line really appealed to me. I was hooked.

We moved from New York to Utah a few months later, in the middle of fourth grade. The transition was hard for me and I found myself really missing my old friends and my old town. Where we lived in Utah was vastly different than New York. The nearest mall was over an hour away and the biggest store in the town was a Wal-Mart. That Wal-Mart grew to become one of my favorite places in the town. My brother and I felt like outcasts at our school, and we both found solace in Pokemon. It was familiar, comforting, and a really great source of entertainment. I bought my copies of "LeafGreen," "Sapphire," "Pearl," "Platinum," and "Pokemon Ranger" at that Wal-Mart.

After two years in Utah, we moved to the house we currently live in, here in North Carolina. By then "Pokemon Battle Revolution" for the Wii had come out, and my brother and I played it constantly. Unfortunately, things went from bad to worse for me once we moved to NC. I was bullied very aggressively in sixth grade. It was the worst year of my life. I constantly felt alone and insecure and I was constantly in a state of fear and sadness. I wasn't accepted and I felt like even more of an outcast.

This is when Pokemon really became important to me. It was my escape, an outlet for my pent-up frustration. Most of all, it made me feel like I wasn't a loser. It made me feel cool. In the games, I was a trainer raising awesome creatures to battle other people and be victorious. Yeah, it was all pretend, but it really helped me feel like I was doing something important. I loved all of my Pokemon, even though they were just pixels on a screen. Playing Pokemon gave me a lot of confidence when I really needed it.

Luckily, the rest of my time in school wasn't as difficult as that year. I grew more confident in myself as the years went on, but I still played Pokemon. It might sound stupid, but I feel like I owe the franchise a lot. Pokemon is entertaining and interesting, but there's way more to it than that. It helped me feel confident in myself. It showed me how to care for things outside of myself. It's helped me bond with friends, a boyfriend, and my family. It taught me strategy and patience. But most of all, Pokemon has been a constant in my life when not much else was.

I'm really glad to see that "Pokemon Go" is helping the franchise get the attention it deserves. I know it may seem nerdy to people, but I won't ever apologize for loving Pokemon. It practically saved my life. I would really encourage you to check out the anime, card game, and video games that go along with Pokemon. They have a lot to offer.