First night in the States

Around 1 am on a July day, Monterey is chilly with a clear night sky. My boyfriend and I come out of the cab and drag two huge cases to the door of my current house. My landlady told me that she wouldn't be home but I could ring the bell as my roommate would wait for me.

Shivering from coldness, I press the door bell in the silence of the night. Nobody answers. The house remains silent. The moon is bright. Simba the toy is standing at the door at the end of a staircase near my house, dimly luminous, as if creepily watching our next move.

Are we at the right door? It is quite amazing to start the journey and arrive in front of a specific door across the globe. Maybe some error has occurred. Maybe the cab dropped us at a wrong neighborhood. It is late, the cab driver is possible to be too sleepy to read the GPS.

I double confirm the address. Yes this is it. We keeps pressing. Finally I hear someone is walking to the door.

The door opens. A tall, slim blonde girl, obviously upset, questions: "How can I HELP you?" I explain to her my landlady's arrangement, saying that my bf is allowed to stay in the living room. "No, I'm staying in the living room. He can't stay here." But he can't stay in my room either as I have a roommate inside. She says she is not aware of my landlady's arrangement whatsoever. Throwing two pillows off, she walks back to bed.

Standing there for a while, we decide that we can only go out to find a place to stay. Confused and angry and cold, we spend almost a month's rent on a hotel room as we don't have a car, his phone is about to die and nearby affordable hotels are fully booked.

I used to watch America's Next Top Model before coming here. On the plane from China to Los Angeles, I even revisited an ANTM episode to prep myself for what may be happening to me. This heads-on is such an ANTM girl! I wasn't so angry at her. I was angry at my landlady's arrangement. Though she left a mess right outside our house before taking off, I don't really think ill of her. After all, she was the girl who opened the door for us. My other two roommates didn't even get up.

On the contrary, I should have thought of a better way to deal with the situation. If I was brave enough I could step inside the house and have a look at her bed and then I could let her sleep on my bed and we go to sleep on her bed. Then again, that is too bold a request to place and she was in a bad mood woken up during the night.