What a great week off: Miles upon miles put on the snowmachine, a dog happy and worn out from chasing tennis balls, and sore legs from riding powder at Alyeska. If it weren't for Spring Break, I think we'd all go crazy.

What a perfectly timed vacation for us denizens of the northland.

As much as we might complain about the cold, making it through spring in Fairbanks is an additional feat atop the enormous challenge of surviving winter. Parents praise UAF because there is little else to do here besides schoolwork, but now, as the days get longer, it seems that there is less time for things like studying, homework and going to class.

Many a college career has been broken by spring and its lure of a warmer out-of-doors, but it doesn't have to be that way, even with that restless feeling propelling you away from the classroom as if you and the professor were magnets of the same charge.

Here are some tips for spring:

First off, the best reason to attend spring classes is the significant reduction in clothing use. Dragging yourself off to that morning math class will get a whole lot better when your favorite classmate shows up without a gigantic parka, and is instead wearing a skirt (or muscle shirt, depending on your gender, sexual preference, etc.)

Next, there is the elusive outdoor class. This is an option whose importance is lost on most educators. However, when the professor notices half the class gazing out the window they'll get the point. If not, don't be afraid to let them know how you feel. Good "excuses" that will get you and your class out of the doldrums of a neon-lit lecture and onto the sunshiny grass include flatulence (farting), poor personal hygiene (B.O.), and the infamous "I think I hear an ice cream truck!" (usually a flat-out lie).

Another strategy for success is maintaining your focus through meditation, yoga, and gambling. Breathing exercises keep calm the mind wrought with word problems and textbook reading. Stretching and holding difficult yoga poses makes sitting in that hard, molded plastic chair much more bearable. Calling your bookie to place a $500 bet on a horse you've never heard of, and then tuning in on your pocket radio while a grammar professor lectures on the importance of comma placement, and then giving a blood-curdling scream when the horse stumbles on the final stretch after leading the whole race doesn't do much for your focus, but it'll wake up the rest of the class and might even get you out early.

Remember: Drinking a beer in your lawn chair while grilling up some burgers can make for a fun Thursday morning, but it sure isn't going to get you a diploma. Go to class!