Phones in my life When I was studying at university, I didn't have a mobile phone and used to call my parents from a phone box. I used to buy a 50 rubles' phone card which I tried to spin out. In addition, there were always lots of other students waiting in a queue and thus unintentionally eavesdropping on your personal conversations. I felt ill at ease and tended to hung up just right after reassuring my parents that I was fine and learning the latest news. So my call would normally last for 2 minutes. Sometimes I couldn't get through because my family shared a line with a neighbour who spent hours on the phone. At such moments I was mad at her because there was no bigger frustration to a homesick me than to hear that the line was engaged. When I got a mobile phone, things got better and I would talk to my mum longer. However, the first call from the mobile wasn't that easy because I didn't know that it was necessary to dial the national code.