Hi all!
UPD: thank you all for insightful answers. I am even more confused, but I find fascinating how fluctuating and alive the concept of Europe seems to be, reflecting the relationships between countries, geography, cultural context and even languages. Seems to be a valid PhD topic! Cheers!
I have an ultimately silly question for the thread, but I think it might be the best place to ask about it. I come from Russia and lived in Europe for around 6-7 years. And last weekend I realized I don't know what do Europeans normally mean when mentioning Europe. Is it EEA? EU?
I've mentioned in a random convo that sometime in 2000s Moscow was one of the most expensive cities in Europe, and I was told off that I should not ever say it like that.
I was taught at school back in Russia that Europe is a continent, and the division lies between tectonic plates or something. That means, that there's a European and Asian parts of Russia, like there are 2 sides of Istanbul sitting on two continents.
I understand, in Europe the most common understanding in Europe is not geographical, but, perhaps, political?
Is Belarus Europe? (I would say yes?) Then what about transcontinental countries? Like, Georgia is Europe and Azerbaijan is not? What about Armenia? (I've heard both interpretations).
Right now, my gut feeling is that all transcontinental countries kinda chose their sides? (Like, Georgia chooses European integration and Azerbaijan doesn't). Could it be most common religion? (Doesn't quite work tho?)
I'm only asking to clear my confusion, not to bait. I'm not suggesting anything. There's a difference in education, and knowing how biased post-soviet education, I think I need to understand the conversation better.
Upd: typo on the subject linem
Russia, at least the European core, is culturally European. Politically it is not European. And I guess that distinction is very relevant.
The Cold War removed Russia from Europe.