“Without Stillness, Life is a Blur” 
​
​The beauty of being surrounded by the foreign slaps me on the face everyday and I realize I can’t take anything for granted. Part of being a stranger is to be curious about the world and the people living on it. I’ve learnt to have more openness and acceptance of differences in people and places, and to share my life, my likes and dislikes with others. It is a fact that living in a cross-cultured place have had a deep effect on my sense of self and my perception of everything: language, culture, space… I’ve even modified my thinking process while speaking or writing as my mother language is Spanish, not English.

​As a foreign I had to adapt to so many new things: food, weather, clothing, even smells and colours. And I must say, the adaptation process is not always easy, it comes along frustration and depression sometimes. As humans we tend to find comfort in the familiar things, and when we don’t have this it provokes distress. But as I always say, it all depends upon how you look at it, and what I’d recommend is to embrace discomfort. Sometimes I got to say, I had to push myself into doing new things, and talk to new people, even if I was terrified; but I’ve learnt that in situations like this creativity is our most powerful tool to overcome an awkward loneliness.

“没有坚持，生活只是虚无”
 
每天，我都在收集着生活在一座陌生城市的美好点滴，但是我也意识到自己的承受能力的局限性。作为一个城市的陌生人，有很大一部分工作是对陌生环境及当地的人们生活的好奇与探索。我也终于试着勇敢地敞开心扉，接受身边的不同，并与他人分享着自己的所想所觉。渐渐地我开始意识到这座充满着不同文化的地方深深地影响和改变着我对自己及身边一切：语言，文化，空间……的和认识看法。我惊奇地发现，当写东西的时候，我甚至会改变自己的思维模式来适应不同的语言。
 
作为一个外来者，我需要不断努力去适应一切新的事物：吃穿住行，天气，甚至空气中弥散的气味和城市中特有的颜色。而我不得不说，这并不是一件容易的事情，很多时候挫败感和失落感总是挥之不去。我想，人本能会需找与自己相似的东西，而当我们找不到的时候， 那种沮丧就可想而知了。但是，正如我常说的，事情的好坏还是取决于你怎么看待它，我会建议大家试着拥抱和接受这种不舒服、不适应的感觉。很多时候，我不得不承认，我也是硬着头皮逼自己去尝试新的东西，和“陌生人”聊天，即使我已经精疲力竭。然而，我发现这其实是最有效的方法让我们战胜那恼人的孤独感。

By Beautiful stranger
 “Find yourself wherever you are！"

作者：美丽陌生人：
“无论身在何方，记得做自己！”

​The story of Beautiful Stranger started with an unfamiliar welcome to the City of Edinburgh. I moved to the city around December, all the city was full of lights and colors, and people, it felt so alive, with a lot of movement, parties on the street, people from all over the world… It was never quiet, the streets were packed; I remember I couldn’t even walk on a decent pace. At some point it was a little overwhelming as I didn’t know anyone on the city, I was there, missing my family and friends, standing all alone surrounded by all this Christmassy gear, and cheerful people. I couldn’t feel more far from home; nonetheless I managed to spend Christmas Eve with some friends. 

The city was getting less louder and less crowded just as holidays were over. It was now January the 1st of 2016, I woke up quite early and went out for a walk. Everything seemed so bright and quiet, few people on the streets, all the stores and restaurants were closed, I felt for the first time like an outsider, watching in silence the lack of movement of a hung over waking city. It felt nice for a while to contemplate the city just as it is, trying to picture myself on it.
 
Back to the flat, I found a little envelop waiting for me on the door step, it said: “beautiful stranger / with love” I took out from the inside a little note: “ticket for a lifetime of happiness” with a little stamp of a kitten on it. It was the best welcome note ever, from a Stranger to a Stranger. That in fact, made me realize we are all strangers, and the first thing we share is this space / this city. 
 
However Beautiful Stranger is you, me, everyone,  it has no color, no nationality, no border…  it is an idea under construction, an evolving concept, a belief that we all are strangers, travelers, collectors of moments, curators of our own memories and experiences. We all have been strangers at some point in our lives and sometimes that feeling can be terrifying but at the same time an opportunity to create our own identity, our connections and relations with more strangers and our personal discovery of places.
 
So I invite all of you Beautiful Strangers, to discover all those new places waiting for us, new cities, new faces, and share your experiences with me in this little corner, where I will be sharing my experiences of living abroad, what I’ve learned by traveling around different countries, some of my life-hacks to survive cultural and language differences for example, also part of my rituals, recommendations, crazy thoughts... well in general my ideas and philosophies of being a Beautiful Stranger. ☞ I will finish this post here, hoping my story gives you a different perspective of being a stranger in this world. ​

Cheerio!

​美丽陌生人的故事的源于我对爱丁堡这座城市的陌生……
 
大概今年12月左右的时候，我搬来爱丁堡这座美丽又陌生的城市。记得刚到的那天，我觉得整座城市灯火通明，五彩斑斓，到处是熙熙攘攘的人群，还有拥挤的圣诞集市。多么有活力的一座城市啊！站在街头，我看着来自世界各地的人们享受着这座城市的繁华与多彩，而我却感觉自己和周边的一切格格不入，无法跟上集市中人们的步伐…因为这座城市对我来讲如此陌生！我只是孤身一人，站在人来人往享受着圣诞欢乐的人群中，思念远方的家人和朋友。突然感到一种从来没有过的距离感。
 
总算，随着圣诞假期的结束，这座城市渐渐恢复了平静。还记得那是2016年一月一日。我醒的很早，一个人出去散步。周边的一切看上去都好刺眼，街上静的出奇。偶尔看到几个人走在街上，所有的商店，餐厅都大门紧闭。第一次，我感受到了这座城市在繁华后的静谧与安详，也是第一次我可以试着想象自己生活在这座陌生的城市中。
 
回到家里，无意间看到门口静静躺着一个小信封，标题写着“爱你的-美丽陌生人 ”，好奇地打开信封，里面有一张精美的小卡片，淡淡几个字写着“一张通往快乐的门票”，右上角一个小猫图案的邮戳。这对我来说真的是最棒的一份欢迎信，欢迎我来到这座城市，从一个陌生人到另一个陌生人。这也突然让我意识到，我们彼此都是陌生人，我们唯一共同的是，共生在这座华丽而陌生的城市，分享着同一片天空。