(Hopefully this feedback is interpreted in the instructive tone in which it is intended, rather than as pedantic nitpicking) There is a subtle difference in mea

(Hopefully this feedback is interpreted in the instructive tone in which it is intended, rather than as pedantic nitpicking) There is a subtle difference in meaning between "few X" and "a few X" in English. While they both refer to a small number of items, "few X" has an implication that that number is smaller than hoped or expected, or is smaller than for other members of a similar category. In that sense, your third point ("I genuinely learned few things that I would not have bothered to learn otherwise") sounds like a negative - the implication is that, while you did learn some things, the number that you learned was small enough to not be worth your time.