A couple of months ago I decided I wanted to sit a Spanish exam this November. Why? I haven't a clue.

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Maybe it's because my friend Emilie sat it in May. I don't need the qualification, and I have plenty of other things I could be doing with my time. Anyway, the Spanish I know so far was mostly picked up, and I figured it was time to hire a teacher, so I hired Emilie's.

And very soon, my teacher said she thought I would be better waiting till May. I was offended, deeply. Then I went off to Europe for six weeks, didn't open a book, and at my Spanish lesson yesterday I told my teacher, who is lovely, that I really want to do the exam in November. I would simply get bored if i had to wait till May.

'Okay, you'll have to work, then,' she said, 'and working doesn't mean just doing the bits of past papers that you LIKE, such as the listening comprehensions and multiple choices. It means doing the bits you DON'T like: the essays, formal letters, and so on.'

'But I HATE the writing part! Spanish is too flowery and I don't know the conjuctions. Spanish doesn't suit a minimalist. And I don't know where the accents go. I want to do the exam on a computer with a spellcheck!'

'Paola, it's two full past papers per week until the exam, and I mean you do every one of the options on the writing part, with no spellcheck and no notes, otherwise no exam. Remember, you have to get 70% in every section.'

So I've just spent four hours on the first past paper for this week - did okay on the bits I like, and am waiting for an e-mail from my teacher which will tell me what a disaster my first letter effort was (applying for a job as a nanny) ...why am I such a masochist?