Eastern Europe
Continental Europe is at a crossroads: The hegemony of the United States is, for the first time in nearly half a century, being called into question, and several Asian countries, most notably China and India, are on the economic and therefore diplomatic ascendancy. As a result, Europe is finding itself in a position to which it is likely rather unaccustomed: That of international buffer.
But Europe, the traditional center of the Western world, is undergoing some rather drastic changes itself: Because of the eastward expansion of the European Union and the influx of immigrants from countries whose social and religious identities are quite different from those traditionally associated with Europe, the Continent itself is being forced to bend in ways its constituent nations never thought possible.
All of this turmoil adds up to one thing: There is no better place to attend college right now than Continental Europe. Simply stated, the forces shaping the world are plainly at work on the Continent, and studying there will likely provide the non-European student a view of the world that he or she would not get anywhere else. As a result, those students who choose to study there will have an understanding of the forces affecting the lives of millions of people that is more clear and complete than they ever had before.
At the present time, Continental Europe consists of nearly 50 independent countries. Of course, an exact number is impossible to arrive at, since the word Europe can be considered either in cultural or geographic terms, and depending upon which definition one uses, the number of countries changes. But this is also what makes modern Europe so exciting: The range of cultures and governments is nearly as diverse as the people who call Europe home, and because of this, the potential for new experiences on the Continent is limitless.
Many students choose to study in traditionally popular countries like France and Italy. These offer unparalleled views of history and the opportunity to learn languages that will prove ever more useful in years to come. Others decide to study in the less-well-known European countries, like Hungary or Romania. And though these places may be less glamorous than some others, they nonetheless provide educations in the history of the world, and especially of the 20th Century, that one could find nowhere else.
Europe has been the birthplace of so much of our own modern culture that people often forget how vital a role it still plays. The most exciting restaurant cooking in the world is now happening at a little restaurant a few hours outside Barcelona called Il Bulli. Intense and avant-garde literature by the likes of Michel Huellebecq is being published in France. The Hungarian novelist Imre Kertész won the 2002 Nobel prize in Literature, and the Austrian novelist Elfriede Jelinek won in 2004. And advances in the fields of science and medicine are being made daily in various other European countries.
Students, then, stand to gain an entire world of knowledge from attending school in Europe. The only question, of course, is what kind of experience they would like to have. Because with Europe, the possibilities are endless, and so are the choices.
