luxembourg
I don’t think I knew much about Luxembourg before going to Belgium. My introduction came via my geography class when we were looking at information on all the countries that were part of the relatively new European Union. I have to admit I found European geography a lot more interesting than US (I failed a test on naming all the states).
What I did gather from that class was that Luxembourg, though the smallest country in the Union, had a lot going for it. They were in a better position economically than most of the other countries, with a lower inflation rate, lower unemployment rate, higher literacy rate, higher average income etc.
When I made it there eventually on an AFS trip, I realized that Luxembourg is also one of these very green countries, with a green capital and clean air. 
Sounds trivial but it makes for a very beautiful country. I declared then that given a choice, Luxembourg would be one place I would be willing to live. The fact that they speak several languages doesn’t hurt either (English, French, German and Luxembourgois).