Throughout the course of being in the Basque Country and Bilbao, I have seen a huge difference in society. The most major thing that I have seen is the difference in priorities. Here, it seems that people value having things for everyone, whereas in the US everyone is more focused on what the have for themselves. This is shown through universal healthcare, cheaper education, better public transportation, and more sustainability practices.
Each of these things are focused on the betterment of everyone in some way, through investing in the future (around 3000 euro per year for college), where we spend an absurd amount. Healthcare also makes it so everyone can have access, not just people that have the money for it. This makes incidents easier to cover, and it is more considerate for everyone in my opinion. In addition, their public transportation system is light years ahead of the US. The metro system in Bilbao can go basically anywhere, as well as transportation to cities throughout Spain and Europe. It is so much better planned, and it truly makes people’s lives easier. Instead of paying for a car, they pay to use this, which prevents pollution from cars, parking spots, and makes the transportation faster most of the time. It also goes to surrounding areas, which makes travel extremely convenient. In Pittsburgh, we have the T, which is comparatively useless. It does not go to nearly as many places, and the infrastructure in Pittsburgh does not make this the most efficient method of transportation, which is currently by car.
In addition, here they care more about sustainability. They have limits on the amount of AC they can use here, but people seem to be adjusted to it. Our hotel also had a feature where the lights would not turn on without a keycard. This definitely saves a significant amount of electricity, and I have never seen anything similar in the US yet. Their commitment to sustainability in Spain is also shown by the public transport that I previously discussed.
While these are some cultural differences I noticed, there were many similarities between Bilbao and Pittsburgh’s developments. They were both old steel towns because of the water by both of the cities, however steel production has since moved to other cities. They used to be very polluted, and both cities have found ways to reinvent themselves. Pittsburgh has seen a development in health research, education, and technology whereas Bilbao, in my opinion, has seen a huge cultural shift. Here, this is known as the “Guggenheim” effect, where the Guggenheim museum being built led to a lot of the infrastructure and revamp of Bilbao (including the metro system). While Pittsburgh has not had one singular thing of this magnitude, it has experienced change in a similar way that Bilbao has.
Overall, there are plenty of cultural differences between Bilbao and Pittsburgh, but at the same time they have had a lot of parallels. The biggest takeaway for me is the higher care for society as a whole, rather than the very self-concerned mindset most carry in the US.
