Getting this degree certainly doesn’t translate to a limited area to explore. Russia alone has the same surface area as the moon! A full list of countries and cities would make this guide near endless, but here are some of the top destinations to help you get your program search started:

It (almost) goes without saying that Russia is the most prominent place to get this degree in Eastern Europe. This country has a thing for domination: from the czars and communists to present-day Putin. As the capital, Moscow is the hub of Russia, with the Kremlin, Saint Basil’s cathedral, and many museums. Along with the history comes the classic staples of vodka and beef stroganoff, which make any study session better. While Moscow may hold the political heart of Russia, the intellectual soul of Russia lies further West in Saint Petersburg. Want to be a little closer to the Baltic Sea? If so the province of Kaliningrad offers a glimpse into the region’s German past.

If Russia seems too massive for you, there are Russian and Eastern European Studies degree programs in Ukraine and the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. In Kiev, many locals speak Russian, and the city has many art museums and attractions that people from all over the world come to see. Cities in the Baltic republics tend to be smaller. The largest city you will encounter is the Latvian capital of Riga, but don’t let it’s small(er) population fool you; it’s bustling with all sorts of cultural treats and culinary goodies.

If you want to study areas where the Russian grip is weaker, you can start in Poland and work south to the Balkans. The capital city of Poland, Warsaw, offers a chance to explore old Jewish ghettos, while Krakow boasts the haunts of Pope John Paul II, and the world’s oldest salt mines can be explored in Wieliczka. In the Balkans, the former Yugoslavia is now a collection of countries that are ready to open to the modern world. Whether studying in the epicenter of the 1990’s wars in Belgrade, standing on the street corner where World War I began in Sarajevo, or studying the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Yugoslav influences along the Dalmatian coast in Croatia, Eastern Europe is incredibly diverse yet uniformly magical and welcoming.