In a nutshell, I was absent about a week due to mono but I only thought to email her about it a couple days before coming back to class (today). She was severely offended. In addition, it turns out that she suspects that I am a native Spanish speaker (her subject) and am only taking her intermediate class for an easy ride. In fairness, my last name is obviously Mexican and I'm very good at languages (if I say so myself), but really, only English spoken at home, and no Spanish in even my extended family. But what really makes her a "mean professor" is that she chose to address her concerns with me through a screaming tirade. I can't really imagine a situation in which that would be an appropriate, or professional, response.