Greece, or in official terms the Hellenic Republic, is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula. It has land borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east. The Aegean Sea lies to the east and south of mainland Greece, while the Ionian Sea lies to the west. Athens is the capital, with a population of 5 million people; Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion, Larissa, Volos, Ioannina, Kavala, Rhodes and Serres are some of the country's other major cities.

Greece consists of a mountainous peninsula mainland jutting out into the sea. The Aegean Sea and to a lesser extent the Ioanian, have countless islands (nearly 1.500) giving Greece the 10th longest coastline in the world. Most of the islands are inhabited and not only play an important role in the countries economy, but also have their own special place in today’s Greek society with very strong and traditional local communities. Yet besides its rich sea and beautiful islands Greece is very well known for its mountains; nearly four fifths of Greece are mountains or hills, making the country one of the most mountainous in Europe. Western Greece contains a number of lakes and wetlands and it is dominated by the Pindus mountain range with a maximum elevetion of 2.636m.

It lies at the juncture of Europe, Asia and Africa. It is heir to the heritages of ancient Greece (Cycladic, Minoan & Mycenean civilazations), Classical Geece, the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule. Greece has been the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature and historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, and Western drama including both tragedy and comedy, and you’d better have arguments if you want to persuade us that that is not the case! It has also been the home of great thinkers such as Plato, Socrates, Archimedes and Pericles just to name a few.

Regarding politics, Greece is a parliamentary republic.The head of state is the President of the Republic, who is elected by the Parliament for a five-year term. The current Constitution was drawn up and adopted by the Fifth Revisionary Parliament of the Hellenes and entered into force in 1975 after the fall of the military junta of 1967–1974. It has been revised twice since, in 1986 and in 2001. The Constitution, which consists of 120 articles, provides for a separation of powers into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and grants extensive specific guarantees (further reinforced in 2001) of civil liberties and social rights.

The country became the tenth member of the European Union on 1 January 1981, and ever since the nation has experienced a remarkable and sustained economic growth. Widespread investments in industrial enterprises and heavy infrastructure, as well as funds from the European Union and growing revenues from tourism, shipping and a fast growing service sector, have raised the country's standard of living to unprecedented levels. The country adopted the Euro in 2001 and successfully organised the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Greece is a member of the European Union since 1981, a member of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union since 2001, of NATO since 1952, the OECD since 1961, the WEU since 1995, and ESA since 2005.

Greece is visited by people from all over the world wishing to witness from up close ancient artefacts, temples and ancient theatrical plays; in a nutshell, the rich culture and history. But Greece is very well known as a tourist destination. It enjoys warm and sunny weather nearly year long, with mild winters; more importantly it has friendly locals (after all hospitality is a greek concept:‘’filoksenia’’) that are always happy to show visitors its’ traditions: from ouzo, tzatziki and mousaka to syrtaki, zorba and mpouzouki! So, when visiting Greece it is important not to focus solely on the hard core ‘’educational’’ trips and excursions but try get a feeling of the way of life, the friendly and positive attitude, all dressed in sun-shine smiles.