"I never expected that I would be so busy. Why can't there be 25 hours in a day?" complained Liu Ran in Hong Kong as mid-term exams were going on. The 18-year-old was Shandong Province's top scorer in this year's college entrance examination. After graduating from Tai'an No.1 High School, she chose the Chinese University of Hong Kong  , although both Peking University and  Tsinghua University promised her a place. "I want to experience a more international school and social life in Hong Kong. I'm majoring in journalism, so Hong Kong will surely help widen my horizons," Liu said. It is two months since Liu first set foot on Hong Kong. She missed home a lot at the beginning, because of the food and language problems. "The canteen offers mostly Western or Guangdong food, but it's convenient to cook for ourselves in our dorm if we like. People speak Cantonese and almost all classes are in English," Liu explained. Her English and Cantonese are now both improving, but she still needs more time to adapt to the new environment. "I'm happy that I made the right decision to study here. With a mix of the Eastern and Western cultures, there is so much to discover and learn," she said. Liu has 18 credit hours  of classes every week and 23 non-credit hours every other week. She has signed up for four associations including the Chinese Language Debating Team and the drama club. Essays, book reports and presentations also take plenty of time to prepare. And , of course, there are various parties to attend. "I wasn't a party animal before, but that may be interesting part of college. I sense myself changing," Liu said. Liu Ran had to overcome the difficulties in many aspects EXCEPT  _  .
food language missing home no friends