On Friday, June 24, panic ensued around the world as the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The unprecedented event, known across media outlets as "Brexit," led to the resignation of Prime Minister David Cameron and the plummeting of financial markets across the world, just in its first day. As people tried to understand what happened, they realized they didn't actually know anything about the EU, especially folks in Britain, who cast the votes for the referendum. According to Google Trends, the top google questions in Britain regarding the European Union were: What does it mean to leave the EU? What is the EU? Which countries are in the EU? What will happen now that we've left the EU? How many countries are in the EU?

"What is the EU?" is the second top UK question on the EU since the #EURefResults were officially announced pic.twitter.com/1q4VAX3qcm
— GoogleTrends (@GoogleTrends) June 24, 2016

It's not just folks in Britain who have no clue about the EU; folks all over the world are asking, "What is the EU?" and, "What does leaving the EU mean for Britain?"

What is the EU?

The EU is an economic and political union that emerged between European countries after the end of World War II, with the aim to restore economic cooperation. What ultimately emerged was a single European market that would allow more freedom and mobility between European nations, and within that market a common currency, the euro, emerged as well. The EU of today looks a tad different, as it has expanded to focus on multiple policy issues, including climate and environmental issues, human rights promotion and governmental transparency, among others. The EU operates similarly to a representative democracy and treaties serve as the rule of law; nations voluntarily sign onto treaties about a variety of issues, and those treaties become binding agreements that signatory parties must follow.

How many countries are in the EU?

There are 28 countries in the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

What's happens next?

So, what's next? That's the question of the minds of folks worldwide. First off, the UK hasn't officially parted from the EU yet. That process for the UK to officially part from the EU could take years. In order to part from the EU, the UK would have to officially notify the EU of their desire to part and negotiate a treaty for withdrawl. We've already seen the resignation of the David Cameron, and the plummeting of financial markets, so we can expect to see the emergence of a new leader of the Conservative Party to emerge as the next prime minister, and continued damage to the financial markets, considering that Britain's economy is deeply intertwined with the EU economy.

Eerily Similar Trends at Home

The Brits may have just admitted they may have not known much about what they just voted for, but will US citizens do the same prior to the election this November? If this election cycle has taught us anything, it's to expect the unexpected. Donald Trump's rise has not followed any of the past political theories that I learned about though my major coursework, which we base many of our political structures on. Few people believed that he would become the presumptive Republican nominee. We laughed off his candidacy as nothing more than a ploy for attention, circulating memes comparing his hair to an ear of corn. But then he actually won contests, and no one could appear to stop him. Trump doesn't even know what's going on half of the time, nor does he really have grounded policy plans. Yet, he's drawing crowds, and folks have actually been voting for him. These same folks often can't articulate why they are voting for him or why they like him, except for their repetition of his slogan "Make America Great Again." If the US can learn anything, it's that we need to encourage folks to combat their ignorance, before it's too late, before folks finally realized the consequences of their vote. The US as it currently operates is bound to destroy itself anyways, but a Trump presidency, if we consider his rhetoric to be actual policy goals, would expedite that.