AN UNFAMILIAR LAND/ 陌生之地

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！”

“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。