It was the autumn of 2007. I was living in Tokyo, as I had got scholarship to study in Japan. I lived at my university's dormitory. It only took 5 minutes by foot to the university. One day, I accidentally lost my room key. I reported it to a tutor. She advised me to go to the international students department office for a new key. However, because of many reasons, I remember I just put it off and lived without a key for a while.

Although everything worked out in the beginning, I soon ran into trouble. One day, as usual, I went back to my dormitory for lunch break and prayer. My room was on the 4th floor. I called the elevator, but it took so long to come up, so I took the stairs. I reached the 4th floor. I walked to my room and just opened the door because I had obviously left it unlocked. Suddenly, I had unexpected surprise.

When I opened the door, a stranger was standing inside the room while washing his dishes. No Way! "Who's this guy?" "What's he doing in my room?" He looked at me and just said "Oo!!" I realized quickly that it was not my room. That was not my bed cover. I checked the room number. "OMG!!!" "It's not 411, my room. It's 511!!!". I had skipped the 4th floor. I was too embarrassed to see his further reaction. So, I apologized to him by saying "I'm so sorry" in Japanese and closed his door immediately.

In the end, I found my 'real room' and laughed at myself. How stupid I was. Later, I found out that the guy who I had met accidentally was my Mongolian friend's friend. After the accident, I soon reported my lost key to the university's international student and got a new key for my room. The event was traumatic enough to make sure I never put a problem off until it is really solved.

By: dini :)