I know some of you were wondering when this issue would be online, if ever. Well, the reason for the delay was simple: I was seeing Phantom. I had been planning on going to Europe in the summer of 2002, but when I got an email saying that the Hamburg show was closing this June, I decided to make the trip now.

I saw the show three times: Evening of June 29, and both performances on the 30th. Although I had been backstage at Phantom a few times before (twice in Toronto and once in Rochester), the size of the Hamburg stage was overwhelming. The right wing was about the size of a small stage itself!

I had half-expected the German fans to be a bit different than the ones I had met in Toronto. Well, I was wrong! There were the ones who wore masks to the show, the ones who were happy just to be in the same room as the actors, and the ones who were nonchalant about sipping champagne a few feet from the Phantom. It was wonderful to see that we're all the same, all over the world. Although we speak different languages, we're not all that different when you get right down to it.

I guess that's one reason I like the internet so much - it brings people closer together. Helps us realise that the Germans have the same hopes and feelings as the Canadians, who have the same as the Japanese...and so on. Maybe that's why I'm studying international relations - to try and help other people realise that deep down, we're all the same.