Java program that allows user to select a country from a list to display information about that country?

Now that school is over, and I'm finally done with my programming class, I'm feeling a tad bit nostalgic and want to make a program for myself. What I had in mind was having a list of the 27 EU countries that a user can click on. Once a country is selected, basic information is shown (population, main language, capital, etc.). I did this last year after I finished my web design class, but I'm having a harder time with java. Can anyone help get me started with this? I just need help with the layout and JButton stuff. I can input all the information, titles, button names, etc. myself, but I cant get the layout of the program itself to work. Help?