Intro to Global Politics?

I'm 21 and I'm embarrassed to say it, but I just realized a few days ago that I know NOTHING about WTF is going on in the world.  I barely know anything about what's going on in my own country, let alone in the Middle East, China, or Russia. I have no idea WHO is fighting, let alone what about.

What would be a good place to find a good, detailed introduction? I tried wikipedia, but there's just too much information presented at once there and I really have no idea where to start.

I've never really been into History classes and current events and such, and have avoided them when at all possible (I don't even watch the news or read the paper, ffs), but I think it's time I grow the fuck up and take a look at the world around me.

Any advice would be appreciated.

For a detailed intro, I would a pick up an introductory contemporary history textbook, but I don't have any to recommend. To get up to date on what's happening right now, you can watch the international news on TV. Don't watch the local news or 24-hour news channels, those are terrible. Also, there's a free newspaper available here that I read on the subway, maybe there's something like that where you are?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_International

About wikipedia, I would just look up conflicts one at a time as you hear about them. Just reading the article's header is enough.