Choosing Biarritz
Up until my mid-twenties, if someone had asked me where on the map would you find Biarritz or the Basque Country, I probably couldn't tell you. I knew it was somewhere near northern Spain, but that is about as close as I could come to finding it. And to be honest, what I knew about the region were mostly negative connotations related to the ETA conflict, since this was the primary news coverage coming from the media in the USA during the 70s and 80s.
At that time in my life, I would never have imagined I would be living and building my life in a region I barely knew. However, life sometimes has other plans if we stay open to our hearts and are not afraid to dream a little. My one small dream of living in France for a year snowballed into a whole other dream of a life in Basque Country.
So, what is it about this part of the world that makes me want to abandon my life in the United States and create a whole new one in another culture? Well, that is both an easy and challenging question to answer.
Starting with the obvious, Biarritz and the Basque Country is an astonishingly beautiful part of the world. It was the fundamental element I noticed when I arrived for the first time back in 2013. When I stood on the sandy beaches of Biarritz and gazed across the Bay of Biscay through the misty ocean air to the Pyrenees, I couldn't believe I had never heard of this magical place before. Surf, sand, sea, waves, and all the hiking and nature you could ever need. I could go on and on about the beauty of the area, but it's best experienced in person. Most of my iPhone photos don't do justice to the real thing. So, let's say the beauty of the area is an easy choice for why Biarritz is my home now.
However, beauty is often in the eye of the beholder, and exterior beauty tends not to create lasting relationships or connections in life. One can admire and love beautiful things, but to create an authentic connection, there needs to be "something more." Beauty needs substance. That "something more," for me, is the people and culture of the Basques.
The Basque culture was almost wiped out by fascist dictators and autocratic policies designed to strip them of their heritage. They have had to defend their way of life and language for hundreds of years. The Basque (Euskara) language is said to be one of the oldest in the world and has no direct connection to other European languages. Yet still, with all of this struggle, they are incredibly proud to be Basque. Rightly so, they have fought for it and earned it.
It's is precisely this spirit that I admire the most. Their willingness to fight and keep their beautiful culture alive is something that is disappearing in today's world of hyper-connectivity and global commercialism. They have preserved a way of life that is not only unique but also provides a lifestyle that is difficult to duplicate elsewhere. When I look deeper, it's fundamentally the solidarity and fellowship that attracts me. Something I feel we Americans can often easily forget.
As an outsider, I often describe Basque culture and the American culture in a specific way. I describe them as a coconut versus a peach. To me, the Basque culture can sometimes be likened to a coconut. Hard and difficult to open on the outside, but soft and worth the effort once you crack the code to open it. As a foreigner, it may sometimes not be the easiest to integrate into the culture, but if you make an effort and take the time to understand the dynamics behind the people, you will find the Basques extremely warm and welcoming.
To me, it's a more genuine way of welcoming, I believe, and one based on mutual trust. It has a more authentic feel to me compared to our often smiley-faced culture of the United States. This is why I relate our US culture at times to a peach. We seem overly welcoming and easy to connect with on the outside when first meeting people since we feel it's our duty to put on a happy face, but yet it can be much harder to get to know or connect deeply with an American at times. I've spoken many times to foreigners who were confused by thinking they had made a friend yet only to be let down by the lack of connection later on.
Now, I'm speaking in generalities and I know everyone is different, but our cultural norms still exist and are implanted into everyone by their own societies. However, I truly find the connection to people and the connection to a culture very genuine in the Basque country, again if you are willing to make an effort. The effort is the key. You have to work at it like anything else. The friends and connections I have made here I know will last my whole life. For me, this genuine feeling is what gives Biarritz and the Basque Country that extra substance. That substance that goes beyond its external beauty and deeper into the soul. Oww, and did I mention the food and gastronomical culture as well? That deserves its own article in another blog for another time!
All of this culture and external beauty leads me to my final point. And that point comes from the heart. I chose Biarritz and the Basque country based on my heart. I chose this region to create my life rather than being born into it. When you choose something with your heart, it often leads to more discovery of yourself. This is what Biarritz has been for my wife and me. A chance to discover ourselves and our own culture through the lens of another. At times it feels like we have to struggle every day to stay here and be a part of the community. There are visa issues, language barriers, feeling lost, feeling unconfident and uncertain. But every day, you have to push past it all to follow your dream.
