Bates is located in Lewiston, ME, which shares many of its resources with neighboring Auburn. In fact, the two cities are often thought of as one, and are given the name LA. Together, LA is the second largest metropolitan in Maine, behind Portland. This means that, while it is certainly no New York or Boston, LA has a great deal to offer. Bates' campus is actually worked into the infrastructure of the city, and you will be crossing over some city roads to get to Merrill Gym on the way to practice. That being said, we have several runs that get you outside of Lewiston and suddenly it feel like the middle-of-nowhere-Maine that we all know and love.

In addition, Portland is only 35-45 minutes away, and students frequently drive down for dinner or shopping. The same holds true for Freeport. It is also very common for the XC and Track teams to get off campus. Coach Fresh frequently invites the team to his house for lunches or dinners. It is a great chance to get into a family setting again.

In the past three years, Connecticut has gotten the first snow of the season a minimum of three weeks before Maine. The fact of the matter is that Bates is no colder than any other state in New England, including southern Connecticut. It is true that it takes a couple weeks longer for the leaves to come out in the Spring, and we probably do get a couple inches more snow per snowfall, but Bates is not located in some inhabitable arctic town. You might remember that snowstorm in 2006 when 26 inches of snow fell on Central Park. Bates got none of that - and not because it was so cold that it couldn't snow.

If you talk to members of other NESCAC schools, especially fellow Mainers Bowdoin and Colby, you may hear that "Lewiston is scary." I have never heard anyone at Bates make that claim. Remember that LA is the second largest metropolitan area in Maine, so there are normal city issues that accompany such a title. However, our team frequently goes out into LA for dinner, runs through the downtown area in the dark, and have no worries. Some of the team members volunteer at the local soup kitchen, and have found that many of the people that come to the kitchen (who might otherwise be deemed "scary") are amazing people. Or, it you want, think about it in terms of community service - there are a lot of opportunities for that in this area. Issues affecting Lewiston are often issues affecting Bates - the two are not isolated from each other. And remember, Bates' campus is worked into the city streets of Lewiston. It is impossible to separate Bates and Lewiston into two physically distinguishable entities because they are, in many areas, the same. Colby and Waterville are physically separated. Bates is worked right into Lewiston, and the city center is about a 2 minute walk from Frye Street.

In fact, the Mayor of Lewiston, Laurent Gilbert, is a track official, who frequently officiates Bates Track contests. Most people on the XC and track teams would make the argument that we have a good relationship with Lewiston. Lost Valley is a ski slope in Auburn that, during the winter, gives free lift tickets to all Bates students. This is great for if you want a quick ski in between classes, but don't feel like driving on icy roads further north to Sugerloaf or Sunday River. That is just one of the things the local communities do to help out the Bates community.