diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..94c0cbd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+logging/
+compiled-builds/
+*.iml
+.idea/
+target/**
+TODO.txt
+packet.pkt
+plugins/**
+src/test/
+target/
+config.ini
+*.txt
+*.jar
+*.log
+*.zip
+.DS_Store
+
diff --git a/Emulator/pom.xml b/Emulator/pom.xml
index cf63987..850f932 100644
--- a/Emulator/pom.xml
+++ b/Emulator/pom.xml
@@ -69,7 +69,9 @@
                 <artifactId>maven-javadoc-plugin</artifactId>
                 <version>3.2.0</version>
                 <configuration>
-                    <additionalOptions><additionalOption>-Xdoclint:none</additionalOption></additionalOptions>
+                    <additionalOptions>
+                        <additionalOption>-Xdoclint:none</additionalOption>
+                    </additionalOptions>
                     <show>public</show>
                 </configuration>
             </plugin>
@@ -104,9 +106,9 @@
 
         <!-- MySQL Connector -->
         <dependency>
-            <groupId>mysql</groupId>
-            <artifactId>mysql-connector-java</artifactId>
-            <version>8.0.22</version>
+            <groupId>com.mysql</groupId>
+            <artifactId>mysql-connector-j</artifactId>
+            <version>8.3.0</version>
             <scope>runtime</scope>
         </dependency>
 
diff --git a/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/database/DatabasePool.java b/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/database/DatabasePool.java
index 9a33ba2..a2e8bac 100644
--- a/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/database/DatabasePool.java
+++ b/Emulator/src/main/java/com/eu/habbo/database/DatabasePool.java
@@ -8,44 +8,55 @@ import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 class DatabasePool {
     private final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DatabasePool.class);
+    private static final String DB_POOL_MAX_SIZE = "db.pool.maxsize";
+    private static final String DB_POOL_MIN_SIZE = "db.pool.minsize";
+    private static final String DB_HOSTNAME_KEY = "db.hostname";
+    private static final String DB_PORT_KEY = "db.port";
+    private static final String DB_PASSWORD_KEY = "db.password";
+    private static final String DB_NAME_KEY = "db.database";
+    private static final String DB_USER_KEY = "db.username";
+    private static final String DB_PARAMS_KEY = "db.params";
     private HikariDataSource database;
+    private static DatabasePool instance;
+
+    DatabasePool() {
+        // Private constructor for singleton pattern
+    }
+
+    public static synchronized DatabasePool getInstance() {
+        if (instance == null) {
+            instance = new DatabasePool();
+        }
+        return instance;
+    }
 
     public boolean getStoragePooling(ConfigurationManager config) {
         try {
             HikariConfig databaseConfiguration = new HikariConfig();
-            databaseConfiguration.setMaximumPoolSize(config.getInt("db.pool.maxsize", 50));
-            databaseConfiguration.setMinimumIdle(config.getInt("db.pool.minsize", 10));
-            databaseConfiguration.setJdbcUrl("jdbc:mysql://" + config.getValue("db.hostname", "localhost") + ":" + config.getValue("db.port", "3306") + "/" + config.getValue("db.database", "habbo") + config.getValue("db.params"));
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("serverName", config.getValue("db.hostname", "localhost"));
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("port", config.getValue("db.port", "3306"));
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("databaseName", config.getValue("db.database", "habbo"));
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("user", config.getValue("db.username"));
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("password", config.getValue("db.password"));
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("dataSource.logger", "com.mysql.jdbc.log.StandardLogger");
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("dataSource.logSlowQueries", "true");
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("dataSource.dumpQueriesOnException", "true");
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("prepStmtCacheSize", "500");
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("prepStmtCacheSqlLimit", "2048");
-            // databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("dataSource.logWriter", Logging.getErrorsSQLWriter());
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("cachePrepStmts", "true");
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("useServerPrepStmts", "true");
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("rewriteBatchedStatements", "true");
-            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("useUnicode", "true");
-            databaseConfiguration.setAutoCommit(true);
-            databaseConfiguration.setConnectionTimeout(300000L);
-            databaseConfiguration.setValidationTimeout(5000L);
-            databaseConfiguration.setLeakDetectionThreshold(20000L);
-            databaseConfiguration.setMaxLifetime(1800000L);
-            databaseConfiguration.setIdleTimeout(600000L);
-            //databaseConfiguration.setDriverClassName("com.mysql.jdbc.jdbc2.optional.MysqlDataSource");
+            databaseConfiguration.setMaximumPoolSize(config.getInt(DB_POOL_MAX_SIZE, 50));
+            databaseConfiguration.setMinimumIdle(config.getInt(DB_POOL_MIN_SIZE, 10));
+            databaseConfiguration.setJdbcUrl("jdbc:mysql://" + config.getValue(DB_HOSTNAME_KEY, "localhost") + ":" + config.getValue(DB_PORT_KEY, "3306") + "/" + config.getValue(DB_NAME_KEY) + config.getValue(DB_PARAMS_KEY));
+            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("serverName", config.getValue(DB_HOSTNAME_KEY, "localhost"));
+            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("port", config.getValue(DB_PORT_KEY, "3306"));
+            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("databaseName", config.getValue(DB_NAME_KEY));
+            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("user", config.getValue(DB_USER_KEY));
+            databaseConfiguration.addDataSourceProperty("password", config.getValue(DB_PASSWORD_KEY));
+            log.info("INITIALIZING DATABASE SERVER: " + config.getValue(DB_HOSTNAME_KEY));
+            log.info("ON PORT: " + config.getValue(DB_PORT_KEY));
+            log.info("HABBO DATABASE: " + config.getValue(DB_NAME_KEY));
+
             this.database = new HikariDataSource(databaseConfiguration);
         } catch (Exception e) {
+            log.error("Error initializing database connection pool: {}", e.getMessage());
             return false;
         }
         return true;
     }
 
     public HikariDataSource getDatabase() {
-        return this.database;
+        if (database == null) {
+            throw new IllegalStateException("Database connection pool is not initialized.");
+        }
+        return database;
     }
 }
\ No newline at end of file