KUTZTOWN, Pa. - This past summer, junior
Anna Conti (Grove City, Ohio/Grove City) and senior
Audrey Stringer (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) of the Kutztown University women's volleyball team spent several weeks in Italy.
Conti took classes at the American University of Rome for five weeks through International Studies Abroad (ISA). The ISA strives to provide high-quality education abroad opportunities to university students in the United States and Canada for an affordable price. Stringer played and competed against six teams in seven different cities in Italy through the American International Sports Teams (AIST). The AIST has been recruiting top level student-athletes to compete in international tournaments in more than 22 different countries since 2002.
Conti explored Florence, Tuscany and Pompeii, and visited some of her family she has in Italy on the weekends. In addition, she was able to visit attractions like the Colosseum and Mount Vesuvius.
Conti spent four hours a day, five days a week taking two classes that were two hours each. She took Italian American Experience, which required her to write papers about stories that she read about Italians coming to America. The second course was International Business, a fast-paced class that Conti could not take lightly.
"The professors were all really cool and great, but they expect you to be involved and very focused on coursework,'' said Conti.
With an international studies minor, Conti knew she wanted to study abroad, and was torn between studying in Italy and Australia. She chose Italy because of the opportunity to visit with her family from the country again.
Stringer played for the United States volleyball team, which was made up of different players from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC), and coached by Gannon University head women's volleyball coach, Matt Darling. KU coach,
John Gump, was contacted last semester about the opportunity for some of his players to play for AIST, and Stringer took him up on the offer.
The teams that Stringer played against were club teams, and the matches were played at local gyms. All of the women on the Italian teams did not play collegiately, but were all from the areas that they played in.
"I really enjoyed playing in Italy this summer. It was a really cool experience," said Stringer. "We got to visit the cities that we played in, so we were not just playing volleyball all of the time. After the games, all the local players' parents made dinners for both teams. Another experience that made playing in Italy so special was that after each game we played, both teams exchanged pinnies with one another."
