This class was absolutely amazing! The professor was very engaging, interesting, and understanding. I'd highly recommend taking this class!!!

I took ANE M104A with her
-she has a pretty thick Italian accent but you get use to it
-very straightforward class if you just do the work
-one midterm + one take home essay (midterm part 2) + one final
-her slides are mostly pictures but she gives you study guides for the midterm/final; if you follow them you should be fine!

Do not take this class. Professor is a nice person but slides and lectures are incomprehensible (thick accent, poor presentation skills).

That said, it is pretty easy to get an A if you are good at BSing. The textbooks will be your friends for the midterm and final.

Class is mostly about ancient Mesopotamian religion, which is interesting if you like that sort of thing. Professor is Italian and has an accent, but after two weeks you get used to it. It doesn't really matter cause the slides are all posted online, and her lecture follows them closely. Books are cheap. Tests are pretty easy and she gives extra credit for the midterm in the form on an additional essay, even if you got a good grade. I learned a lot and would recommend it.

Avoid this class. Thought this class would be an engaging elective; totally wrong. Thick accent, terrible at projecting herself, and coming to any lecture is meaningless. She's very sweet and kind, but she is not an easy professor to understand. I'm not saying this lightly; many of my fellow classmates were very worried about her considering how much she stuttered. Don't know if she suffered from a stroke or what. Would've dropped this class had I forseen what was to come. By far the hardest to understand professor I've had at UCLA.