The difference between nice and friendly

As I was climbing the millions of steps it takes for me to get the closest shuttle stop, I was thinking about how rude local students can be.

In my history class, students will talk to each other while the professor is lecturing. And I don't mean just a few of the students; mostly every clique that is there will have their own conversation. It strikes me odd that a culture so bent on being polite to elders would have no tact in regards to respecting their professor.

Local students can be nice, but they aren't necessarily the friendliest people. If you say hi, they might say hi back to you; but that is as far as their nice-ness will go. I feel that if I sat next to a local HK student in my class, she will ignore me for the entire semester.

It seems that students here don't take their studies very seriously, which is the complete opposite to how I thought studying at a non-American university would be. I can't help but compare to American students because that is what I know and grew up with...I know I should stop comparing and take it all in stride, but sometimes it annoys me how contradictory Chinese society can be.