3. it gives me some empirical knowledge about how my ancestors used to live 800 years ago or so in europe...
800 years? Try less than 100 years. If you are from Eastern or Southern Europe then even less. Europe of early 20th century would be considered a 3rd world country today.
Don't worry Old man Europe only grows it's GDP about 1% during a boom year. India averaged 9% for several years and even in this global economy will grow 6.5%. The GDP per capita convergence is very rapid and will exceed Europe in 30 years. When will your European Union become one country, seems like you guys are always bickering and fighting (2 biggest wars of the 20th century was between Euro's). Read this article, all of Europe is loaded with external debt, (UK is 408% of GDP!):
The World's Biggest Debtor Nations - Slideshows - CNBC.com