<p>Can anyone give me an honest depiction of the city of Lewiston?</p>
<p>sketchy. enough said.</p>
<p>haha, thanks</p>
<p>You might be interested in an article that appeared this week in the Boston Globe newspaper that highlights the direction the Lewiston-Auburn communities are headed in. As someone very familiar with the area, I think the article is accurate: it acknowledges Lewiston's past as a tired mill town but points out the growth and new energy in both towns and cultural opportunities, restaurants, and programs that have changed the face of the area. If you're curious, try this link: <a href="http://www.explorenewengland.com/travel?article=/maine/articles/2006/06/25/changes_afoot_in_a_hipper_la/%5B/url%5D">http://www.explorenewengland.com/travel?article=/maine/articles/2006/06/25/changes_afoot_in_a_hipper_la/</a></p>
<p>No one will ever confuse Lewiston, Maine, with, say, Princeton, New Jersey, or Palo Alto, California, and, as the previous poster put it, parts of town--away from the Bates campus--might be considered sketchy by some. At the same time, the kids and families who live in those neighborhoods are lucky to have Bates students who volunteer extensively and are working for positive change. (Check out the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at the Bates website to get some idea of how committed to service Bates students are.) </p>
<p>Finally, the Bates campus is lovely and leafy, close to restaurants and shopping malls for the stuff college kids need, and maybe best of all, within easy striking range of lakes, the mountains, and the ocean, so that you can have the best of what Maine offers for recreation.</p>
<p>lewiston isn't anything to write home about, but it's safe, has some really nice parts, and just feels "real". i gotta say, however, the city itself hasn't been a huge part of my college expereince. i.e., no one hangs out downtown. but when you do things that involve the community, you'll find some incredibily awesome ppl (i'm a soccer ref, and active with the lewisotn dems, so i've met some really interesting ppl from the area).</p>