(Written by a student at Macao University)

          On the day final exams were over, I decided to walk to downtown Macao.  That was because the semester was over, and the days seemed to be kind of empty.

          I was soon among a flood of people.  The cars to my left could only move slowly along the narrow road.  There was the typical smell of a busy city.

          After walking along the modern buildings for awhile, I felt that I'd go back to the university; it was boring walking in a crowded city without having someone with whom I could talk.  I lost the rhythm that I'd used when starting off and started shuffling along, and it was then that I was swallowed by a flood of people so I eased back into the flow.

          Suddenly I paused, as I thought I recognized students on the other side of the road.  As I'd stopped without giving a signal of any kind, the man behind bumped against me and got angry.

          I used body language to express my apologies, but my eyes were still focused on the people I'd seen, and I was sure they were my friends - students who lived on the same floor at the university.  I took a deep breath and nodded my head as I made a calculation.  One, two, and three - ah, there were about half a dozen guys I knew.

          My heart b eat faster, and I suddenly felt very warm inside.  I raised my arm and shouted to them.

          I wasn't alone!

(Written by a freshman at Macao University)

          Young people are easily affected by changes in circumstances.  They may feel lonely when their friends are not around them and miss home when they live far from their families.

          On the first day of the Christmas holidays at the university, there were only five guys left on the sixth floor of Block Three, as most of the students had gone home.  We gathered on the balcony around a wooden table on which nothing had been set.  We could feel the icy wind from the sea and the color of the sky had turned from deep orange to purple.  It was time for dinner, but no one seemed to want to go to the university's awful restaurant.  We stayed right where we were - waiting for something to happen.

          One of the guys said that he really missed the times when he ate with his family.  "My parents bought a house in the country when I was a kid.  It has two floors and a small garden.  We live in the city most of the year and only go there on vacations.  On those days, we used to go fishing all morning at the river nearby, and in the afternoon we'd go back home to cook the fish.  My father would set up a baker in the field in front of the house, and my mother would prepare the condiments.  When they finished, the air was filled with a wonderful scent that really made you hungry."

          A few seconds later, another guy began a complaint:  "The food in my hometown is much cheaper and more delicious than it is here.  I could have a perfect meal there for around 3 yuan, and since I've come here, I haven't been able to get full even though I've spent as much as 30 yuan."

          A third guy told us about his dog, and when he finished, another one started to talk as I leaned backward in my chair and let it touch against the wall.  I was so filled with emotion that it felt as if my throat wouldn't let me say anything if I told them what I was thinking.  The floral design on the surface of the table seemed blurred, but then it cleared as my mind continued its journey back home through my memories.

           Though many of us in the West have only orange juice and cereal for breakfast, here is what Peichen had on a recent morning: 

          Shredded pork (a dried product that had been cooked - song1), cucumbers pickled in a kind of soy sauce - jiang4), pickled turnips (da4 tou2 cai4), bean curd (a kind of tofu), peanuts and porridge made from rice