As both a concept and a continent, the area known as Europe has shifted over time.
Many see Europe (as a physical landmass) as not a discrete continent, but a peninsula on the Eurasian landmass. Culturally though, the idea of Europe as distinctly bracketed of from Asia, is a powerful idea is not in the Western World. Where is Europe? What is Europe? This article would provide good information for a lesson on regions and how we conceptualize the world within that regional framework.
Europe has never been a static concept, it's likely that even people who live in the same town as you have a different idea of what constitutes the far borders of Europe. Personally I like to make a distinction between types of Europe. It seems to me that what was traditionally Northern and Western Europe differ from Southern and Eastern Europe in a wide variety of ways, especially due to Southern Europe's proximity to Africa and the Middle East.