Jon Markel didn't know how well he had it.

It was only after the geography senior studied at the University of Havana in Cuba last summer that he realized how fortunate he is to be an American student. "An overhead projector was a huge thing to them," he said. "And here, there're computer projectors in every room.

"Everything we have here at MSU - all the facilities and everything - are world-class and we need to take advantage of them."

Markel is among a growing number of American students opting to study in Cuba. In the 2000-01 school year, 905 U.S. students went to America's communist neighbor - a 64-percent increase from the year before, according to a recent report released by the New York-based Institute of International Education.

Although last summer was the first for MSU's Cuba study abroad program, faculty co-leader Robert N. Thomas said the first group of students gave the program high marks.

"From the evaluations, it was highly successful," he added.

The number of MSU students interested in the initial Cuba program was consistent with other study abroad programs, according to the Office of Study Abroad. Twenty students are permitted travel to Cuba each summer.

Last year, the number of applicants surpassed seats, and faculty believe more students will seek information about the upcoming summer as the country becomes more accessible to students.

"The walls are beginning to break down," Thomas said. "It's kind of exotic at the present time. It's been prohibited, and now there is a bit of daringness and adventurism, you might say."

Markel agreed Cuba is an attraction because "it's been closed off and inaccessible for so long," he said, adding the program is "unique because there was the history between the United States and Cuba that a lot of other countries don't have."

That history is just what interested Pamela Shinn, an urban and regional planning development junior, who is signed up for next summer's program.

"They're coming back from a really hard time," Shinn said. "So I'm curious to see how they're bouncing back. I'm almost 50, so there's a lot I recount."

Interdisciplinary studies in social science senior Brynne Willis, who went on the trip with Markel over the summer, said she values the experiences she had interacting with Cuban students, even though she disagrees with the communist form of government the country employs.

"It's amazing that it's a socialist country still working," she said. "It's just a country that's so unique and we don't have the opportunity as Americans to go, and we can go on a student visa for a month.

"I thought it would be excellent for me to see things from a different perspective."

Markel said it was difficult to see governmental differences in the places the group traveled, but he noticed major contrasts between Cubans and Americans.

"There seemed to be a much stronger sense of community than there is here in the United States," he said. "People were out on the streets, and it was almost what you'd expect a neighborhood to be like in the '50s here in the United States."

Thomas said tourism on the island has increased greatly since 1990, which also contributes to the recent growth in students interested in going to Cuba.

"That island is more secure than any other place I've been in Latin America," he said. "But a lot of the cruise ships stop there now."

Interdisciplinary studies in social science and international relations junior Erik Miller also signed up to go on the trip this year, and is expecting security to still be rigid.

"I expect a little bit of a culture shock," he said. "I hear Mr. (Fidel) Castro runs a pretty tight ship."

Thomas said despite restrictions on the island, the increase is mainly due to students wanting to see the unknown.

"Students like to experience new things, new opportunities," Thomas said. "And this gives them a chance to see the island - legally."