Twenty-five-year-old Sharon Tzvielli illustrated the difference between the lives of American and Israeli students through a simple comparison of the students' day.

"You get on the bus, and let's say there's a test you didn't study for," she said. "You wouldn't be able to have your head in your book. You wouldn't be able to look out the window at the scenery. You're always looking at who's coming on and getting off the bus. You're always looking to see if there is a bag anyone left."

Tzvielli visited Penn State Sunday and yesterday with two other Israeli students on behalf of a program called Israel@Heart. The program, brought to the university with the help of Penn State Hillel -- an organization that works to promote religious, traditional and cultural awareness in Judaism on college campuses -- sends small groups of Israeli students to different campuses to share their personal stories. It is part of an effort to help dispel negative connotations about the country and its people. Through sending these groups, the project is able to bring together individuals who would otherwise be separated by thousands of miles.

The students are halfway through their two-week program, with Penn State as the 11th school on their list of destinations. They are preparing to visit at least that many more in the upcoming week.

Through telling personal stories and sharing experiences, each of the students expressed a desire to dispel the perception that all Israeli citizens are politically and militarily aggressive.

Yishai Goldflam, 26, was at a concert one night when he received notice he was called to military duty. He then spent a month fighting in the West Bank. When he returned, the criticism he encountered for Israel's excessive use of force frustrated him.

"I hate using a gun," he said. "I hate being a soldier. It's the last thing I wanted to do. Most of the Israeli soldiers are exactly like myself; they're just regular people. I'm not happy when anybody dies. I wish to God we could stop this."

Tali Lesser, 23, identified a major turning point in her life as the death of a classmate's parents and grandparents in a bombing last April.

"Until that point I saw [the violence] on TV and I read it in the newspaper, but I could turn the TV off," she said, adding that knowing victims made it more of a reality. "Yesterday my friend had a family and today she doesn't."

Each student emphasized that Israel is a diverse country, both geographically and demographically.

"We're all very different people," Goldflam said of the group. "We represent a microcosm of Israeli society."

All three students also expressed their desires for peace in the region.

"We're very optimistic that the world will change and there will be peace," Goldflam said. "Israel and Jerusalem are very important to us, but life is even more important."

Lesser summarized the group's main hope in traveling to the different campuses.

"The message is that we're all just regular people," she said.