I really enjoyed taking this class. Professor Gerstel is an energetic and engaging lecturer who really cares about her students. It focussed on the middle Byzantine period (something not usually covered in survey courses). The art shown was amazing and beautiful, and the material was presented in an informative and entertaining way. The assignments were not your traditional essays and final. There was a midterm, which was straight forward and taken directly from course material and three paragraphs which each focussed on a topic which we went over extensively in lecture. It is not an “easy A” but it is an attainable one if you do your work and attend lectures. Overall, I would highly recommend taking any class offered by Professor Gerstel.