Koblenz with Christine and Laura

After my sister left, I had one day before I had to leave town again. I caught a ride with Mitfahrgelegenheit (ride share program) to Koblenz, near the border of Belgium. I met up with Christine and Laura for the weekend. Christine's dad met me at the train station with a flower! It was so cute. He was really friendly and met me with open arms. What a change from the normal German hospitality! It was SO nice seeing Laura again. We hadn't seen each other since last Thanksgiving. She's studying in Florida but flew back to Germany for the summer. Christine got in later that night, because she had to work. Christine's brother surprised his parents and was there for the weekend, too. He normally studies in Berlin. We all ate dinner together and Laura, Christine and I stayed up late talking and giggling like 13 year olds. :) It was great. The next day we rode bikes through town and Christine showed me the school which I'll be working at for the month of June. I don't remember how to get back there, but I should be able to figure it out on Monday when I'm back in town. Eeek.. The Elbe and Rhine rivers meet in Koblenz. There's four fortresses around town and the Romans used to occupy the area. It's beautiful! And bigger than I expected. That night the three of us went to a light/lazer show in town. It was AMAZING. I didn't really know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised! It was spread throughout town. First we took a tram thingy up to the fortress above town and met with our tour guide, who happened to be the planning coordinator for the entire event. She walked us through the different exhibits (in German). I liked all of them, but the lazer one was my favorite. There were mist machines in a corner of the fortress and blue lazers set up. I don't know how to describe it, but it looked as if I was going through another dimension with the way the light was bending and the speed of the lazers. There was this sharp sound being played the entire time, too. As I was leaving the exhibit, I was walking past people in the mist and it was so eerie and strange, I literally felt as if I was dead and floating in some in between world. People just show up next to you in the dark mist and you can only see their shape. I guess you just have to experience it yourself. :) Then there was an exhibit with dancers from France. It was neat but kind of.. slow. I liked the exhibit in the castle gardens across town. There were bent pieces of metal hanging from trees and lights were moved across them at different speeds, it looked like fireflys flying around.