Yael Bar-Tur's summer got a little more interesting in July. Days at the beach were swapped for hiding out in a bomb shelter with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Tanning by the pool swapped with ducking behind walls with Al-Jazeera reporters.

Bar-Tur was one of three Israeli students who spoke at various times yesterday in Pasquerilla Spiritual Center to informally discuss topics surrounding their homeland -- namely the conflict this summer with Lebanese paramilitary faction Hezbollah. The conflict reached a United Nations negotiated cease-fire Aug. 14.

Ultimately, the day served mostly to highlight their striking cultural similarities with the average college-aged American.

The event was co-sponsored by Penn State Hillel, Caravan for Democracy and Israel at Heart, which sends Israeli students on tours of the U.S. to promote a

positive image of Israel and to encourage American students to visit and see for themselves.

At about 12:30 p.m., Bar-Tur, Assia Avera and Dan Amiga addressed a room full of Penn State students, many of whom were studying Hebrew, for a lunchtime question-and-answer session that was devoid of presentation materials or a specific outline.

Bar-Tur gave a brief introduction and overview of the Hezbollah conflict while she waited for her partners to arrive, at which point the trio fielded questions in both Hebrew and English.

After being recruited out of high school to serve as a spokeswoman in the Israeli Defense Forces, Bar-Tur, 24, got a phone call in the middle of her summer vacation informing her she was needed again immediately.

She spent this past summer working in the army's foreign press department, overseeing international journalists embedded with Israeli troops.

With the need to rescue three kidnapped Israeli soldiers and to defend itself from Hezbollah rocket attacks, Israel was "not prepared necessarily for war" against a surprisingly strong enemy, Bar-Tur said.

"Some units had so much food they had to throw it away; others didn't have enough food for the day. It was a mess," she said.

Israeli citizens fled south to avoid being in harm's way as Hezbollah began its aerial onslaught, leaving a surreal environment of just "tanks and cameras in the north," she said.

Upon turning 18, Israelis are required to serve compulsory military service while many Americans are attending their freshman year of college.

Dan Amiga, 24, used security software techniques he learned during his three years of service to start an application firewall company after discharge, later landing a job with Microsoft Israel.

Amiga reflected on his military service fondly and opted to return for his final year in the army, despite being told he could leave following corrective eye surgery.

Thinking back to basic training, he said, "The second night there we said, 'Man, if we were in the States, we would be partying in college right now.' "

Assia Avera echoed a sense of duty and desire to serve in the Israeli military.

Avera, however, was not born in Israel. As a part of "Operation Moses," an effort to relocate Ethiopia's Jewish population to Israel, he immigrated to the country in 1984.

At the age of 7, he walked 400 to 600 miles by foot to a refugee camp in Sudan, he said, where planes were stationed to carry his family to their new home.

This summer, Avera remembered sitting anxiously on his couch, hoping he would be called to return to active duty. Eventually, he ended up calling officers to tell them his disappointment at not being called to return.

"I felt like I gotta go, I need to do something," he said.

Daniel Michelson-Horowitz (senior-biochemistry) said the ages of the Israeli students personalized the conflict.

"Walking into this room I would not have been able to pick out the Israelis," he said.