For my elective course in Florence, I decided to take Beginning Composition Drawing. Prior to this course, I had no experience with drawing, unless you count elementary school. Day one of the course was very straightforward: after buying our art supplies, we were tasked with drawing a wine bottle. What I initially deemed a simple task completely diminished my optimism in getting a good grade in this course. Our instructor concluded class with us hanging our drawings on the front board to compare, and it is safe to say mine was by far the worst.

Every day, we drew an object that progressively became more difficult. Through personalized feedback from my instructor and analyzing mistakes in my previous drawings, I slowly began making progress. By the end of the first unit, I finally began feeling confident in my sketches.

Once we moved on to the portrait unit, however, I felt as if most of my progress had disappeared.

I repeated the same process of working with my instructor and correcting errors from my previous drawings, and yet again, substantial progress was made.

With a grading scale based primarily on effort and improvement, I was able to earn an A in this course. This experience taught me the importance of giving my best effort, even when there are still many errors present. I used this lesson throughout my time in Florence. For example, when ordering food at cafés and restaurants, I spoke almost entirely in English. However, through the skills I learned in my Italian class and by observing previous interactions, I was able to speak more Italian and improve my pronunciation. Although my Italian was sometimes flawed, the servers would often appreciate my effort. Progress can oftentimes be slow, but it is incredibly rewarding to notice it; I plan to bring this lesson home with me and incorporate it into my academics and daily life.