SPRING is usually the time of the year when college students go back to their hometowns and have a jolly good time partying. But others who are so excited would rather take up a one-week online crash course in just about anything else. Just take a look inside the Web and you’ll find out an enormous number of new fields to learn.

Take me as an example. Right now, I am enrolled in Georgetown here in Washington, DC, taking up a degree in international relations. But I’m originally from Hartford and this weekend I’m going back to my hometown but I’m not gonna be partying there. For seven days, I’ll be immersing myself learning French.

Ever since being enrolled in Georgetown three academic semesters ago, I have been fascinated with the French language. There are dozens of French students here who are also taking up degrees in international relations and although they have denied it, reports have it that they are actually employees of DGSE or the intelligence service of the French government, roughly equivalent to our CIA or NSA. I don’t believe they are fresh high school graduates from France because they are already in their mid-20s. I am fascinated by the way they move, they look very suave. It reminds me of Nikita although the American TV version of Nikita here is English.

Of course, my decision to take up a crash course in French was heightened with the winning of Marion Cotillard as best actress in this year’s Academy Awards. Marion is French and she portrayed the legendary French singer Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. As a 19-year-old Roman Catholic woman coming from Hartford, Connecticut, I’m not gonna emulate Edith Piaf’s promiscuous life but I still certainly want to learn French.

However, it’s not just learning French that you may do this spring break. You may want to learn French cooking for example. Remember, French cooking is not just all about bouillabaisse or ratatouille. There are lots of facet of French cooking especially in the French Riviera where there is an abundance of Mediterranean seafood. Of course, who cannot forget the very vintage French wine called rose. Of course, there are still numerous other one-week courses that you can learn during spring break. There are courses in welding, shipbuilding, sewing and other indigenous handicrafts.