One of the great things about Bates is its location. Lewiston is a city that may seem intimidating at first but if you take the time to explore, your eyes can be opened to all the interesting and innovative activities, restaurants and organizations that Lewiston has to offer. But beyond the city of Lewiston, we are also 30 minutes away from Freeport and about 40 minutes away from Portland, ME. Freeport is super bougie, you can go there for sushi and to check out the large LL Bean outlet as well as J Crew. It can provide a good time at points. However, one of my favorite places is Portland. It is quite a cool city with good restaurants, nice art galleries, funky theaters and some cobblestone streets. There always seems to be something stimulating to do in Portland.
This is where a discussion of First Friday should come in. First Friday occurs on the first Friday of every new month and on this day admission to various art galleries is free. On any given First Friday one can find tons of Batesies around, especially during nice weather. This May I went with my friend and discovered that when the weather is just slightly warm, First Friday becomes a mad house. Because we are both slightly awkward and dislike crowds, we scratched the gallery idea and went to check out the legal graffiti wall that exists in the downtown area. Because there are so many art students around Portland, this graff wall was fantastic. I mean really good looking. I snapped some photos (the painted dog face which looks like it’s materializing out of the wall is my current desktop picture. and I don’t even like dogs…)
Now I can’t do this nor do I know a lot about the process but it’s pretty no? Check it out if you’re ever in Portland. Bring some paints if you feel so inclined…
Shhhh,
Steph
