Fargo, North Dakota! 😃

September 30, 2025September 30, 2025 / seywardrobbins7560 / Leave a comment

Happy Fall everyone! I visited North Dakota recently as part of a new goal, inspired by my friend Kimberly, to visit all 50 U.S. states before my 50th birthday! When I tallied up all of the states I have visited previously, there were only 7 states left on the list, and North Dakota was one of them. Since it was the easiest to get to via a short roadtrip, I decided to venture North for a few days to check out Fargo.

Airbnb 🤩

I found a cute airbnb in a loft apartment near downtown and it was a fun place to stay to check out the area.

The Wood Chipper! 🎥🎬

Remember the Coen brother’s 1996 dark comedy, crime film Fargo? It is set in Fargo, ND and was responsible for Frances McDormand’s Oscar win for playing pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson. It also has a very infamous wood chipper scene, and the actual wood chipper is on display in Fargo at the visitor center, along with some other movie memorabilia.

There is also a neat ‘walk of fame’ with hand prints and signatures from musicians, authors, actors and athletes who have visited Fargo near the visitor center as well.

Downtown🏙️

The downtown area of Fargo is very clean, quaint and aesthetically pleasing with a smattering of shops, restaurants, and a 1926 restored vaudeville theater. These sweet ladies asked if I had any cash, and when I told them I didn’t, they asked if I would take their picture instead.☺️📸

Art & Murals 🎨

Fargo is also known for its unique murals, free art museum and various pieces of art all around the downtown area.

Viking Ship & Stave Church

Though technically just over the border from Fargo, in Moorhead, MN, there is an interesting museum called The Hjemkomst Center, which means ‘homecoming’ in Norwegian. It houses a full-scale replica of a Norwegian Viking ship and behind it, a Norwegian stave church.

The ship was built by a Moorhead resident, Robert Asp, and it was sailed from Minnesota to Norway in 1982 by his family!

The church was dedicated in 1998 by Fargo resident Guy Paulson. Of Norwegian ancestry, he dreamed of building a stave church for years and modeled this one after the original stave church in Vic, Norway which dates from the end of the Viking Age, about 1140 A.D.

And last but not least….Dairy Queen 😆🍦

While researching things to do in Fargo, I came across this unexpected Fargo/Moorhead staple: Diary Queen! This is one of the oldest original stores in the entire franchise, having opened in 1950! DQ’s famous Dilly Bar was created here and they have a 20-foot-tall Dilly Bar statue out front. Having a special place in my heart for Dairy Queen, of course I had to stop by to see it for myself. 😂

Thanks for checking out the blog! Hopefully I’ll have a few more U.S. related travel posts coming up in trying to meet this new goal. 🎉🎊 And I welcome any suggestions on places to visit in the states I have left, which are: Montana, Alaska, Rhode Island, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. Happy Fall Everyone! 😃

Graduation and Saying Goodbye to Maine! 🎓🌲🥹🚚

May 27, 2025 / seywardrobbins7560 / 2 Comments

You guys! I graduated with my new bachelor’s degree in International Affairs this May! 🎉🎊 Yippie! I feel so fortunate to have had the privilege of returning to school and to have learned so much in a new area of study! It was challenging at times, and definitely the first time in my life where I felt my age so acutely 👵🏻😉😆, but I met some really excellent people and had a lovely overall experience! 💕

New degree, new state! 😊

Being so far away from friends and relatives these last few years in Maine has made me realize how much I miss living close to the people I love. So after lots of thinking and praying and considering, I decided that I wanted to start my new career in the midwest. Right after graduation, I made the 3 day, 1700 mile drive back to the center of the country, and thankfully, it all went easy peasy! 🚚 And even though it felt like I was driving a big rig, the Penske is actually pretty tiny by comparison, even with towing my car behind it! 😂🤣Ha!

Things I will Miss About Maine 🏡

During my drive to and from campus each day this semester, I passed these huge, beautiful homes and I had to share a few of them because they felt really unique to anywhere else that I’ve lived. Aren’t they neat? I’ll miss seeing them every day!

Saying Goodbye 🥹

The past three years in Maine have been a definite learning experience! I discovered what it’s like to live in a very tiny town, in a very rural area, and in a place that felt very far away from the rest of country. Accessing healthcare, from doctors to optometrists to dentists was a significant challenge, and practicing medicine in a rural area was very different to when I lived and worked in big cities. The weather is also MUCH colder and snowier than even I expected ❄️☃️🥶😂.

I cherish the friendships that I made here and I loved living near the Atlantic and being able to take long walks through the thick woods. I will not miss how expensive it is to fly to and from this part of the country, or the Lyme carrying ticks, but I am grateful for this brief stint in a new state and will mostly look back on it fondly. ☺️

Graduation Celebration 🎉 🥳

A huge thanks to my friends and family who remembered me and helped me celebrate this new degree! 🎓 I am so grateful for you!! 💕

*Special shout out to my friend Camilla who MADE this super impressive graduation box (bottom left)! Her creativity and generosity really amaze me!! 👏 🫶

Thanks again for following along with me on this journey of adventure over the last 5 years! I’ll try to keep updates coming on jobs and hopeful future travel once things are settled! Hope everyone has a great summer! 🌺

Spanish Language Exam, passed!! 🎉🙌😁Wahoo! 🥳🎊🍾

March 22, 2025 / seywardrobbins7560 / 5 Comments

Happy March everyone! 😊 I wanted to share the exciting news that I passed my recent OPI, or oral proficiency interview, in Spanish, which is a requirement for graduating from my program in International Affairs at UMaine. 🎊🥳🎉 The minimum recommended preparation for this exam is two 300-level Spanish courses, but with my transfer credits and non-traditional student status, I can graduate in 2 years with my new bachelor’s and even with taking Spanish every semester, I haven’t been able to get the recommended number of courses. 😬 One of the reasons that I wanted to study abroad in Uruguay was to have more exposure to learning and speaking Spanish, but unfortunately, even with that experience, I’ve still been very hesitant and shy in my speaking abilities. 🥸😖 If I wasn’t able to pass this exam, then I wouldn’t have been able to graduate, so it felt like my last big hurdle in obtaining my new degree. 😳After agonizing for a number of weeks and tons of studying and practice, I took it yesterday and made it into the intermediate category (which is what I need to graduate)!! I am SO relieved and excited! 😆 This is a big win for me, and since big wins don’t happen every day, I just wanted to share this happy news. ☺️

We’re halfway through the semester, less than 2 months to go! I hope everyone is enjoying these first few days of Spring, and thanks for stopping by!! 🌸🌺🌼🌿

Back in Maine! 😊🌲📚

January 25, 2025 / seywardrobbins7560 / 1 Comment

Happy January everyone! And cheers to 2025! 🎉After a lovely holiday season with my family in the mid-west, I made the 3 day drive back to Bangor for my last semester of my new undergraduate degree. I arrived shortly before a big snow storm, which I was very grateful for! 🙏🏽 I also forgot how cold it gets up here! My first morning back was -7 degrees Fahrenheit! 🥶😂

Housing 🏡

I decided to stay in a long-term airbnb for the semester that is set up for travel nurses. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the space is large, but cozy, and quiet. The room is in the top floor of an old home that was built in pre-civil war times! It’s about a 20 minute drive to campus and classes started this week. So far, aside from a Spanish course that requires a ton of speaking and caused me to have a mini panic 😂, I really like my classes.

I suspect that I will have very few travel adventures in the next few months given my full time student status and limited funds, but thanks to everyone who followed along with me on the South America adventures last year. 😁 When I am no longer ‘fun-employed’ and can start planning more travel trips, I’ll be sure to update them here. I hope 2025 is off to a great start for everyone! Lots of love, Seyward ❤️

10 days in Patagonia!! 🏔️🦙🤗

December 22, 2024December 22, 2024 / seywardrobbins7560 / 2 Comments

Hello everyone! Happy December! I think this next post will mostly be pictures because Patagonia, in southern Argentina and Chile, is unbelievably beautiful! 🤩 As someone who was born and spent a large part of my life in Colorado near the Rocky Mountains, the mountains are my happy place. 🏞️ I love skiing and hiking and just being able to see mountains in the distance. Uruguay is mostly flat, with only a few very small hills, so after a semester there I was extremely excited to be ending my time in South America with a trip to some of the world’s most breathtaking mountains. 🎉

El Chalten, Argentina ⛰️

Stefan and I started our Patagonia trip by flying to southern Argentina and renting a car to drive to a little tiny backpackers town called El Chalten (pic below). It has only been around since the mid-1980s and consists of little hostels, hotels, bars and restaurants all catering to backpackers and hikers. We lucked out with warm and dry weather, though it was quite windy. 🌬️We also found a tasty restaurant the first night we arrived. 😋

Miradores 👀

We learned how gorgeous Patagonia is on the drive from the airport to El Chalten and then were pleasantly surprised again and again by how lovely and picturesque the area is. There are countless ‘miradores’ or viewpoints in each area that we visited and our first day of hiking took us to several.

Fitz Roy

One of the longer and well known hikes in El Chalten is the Fitz Roy. It has similar rocky peaks like the Torres Del Paine in Chile. We hiked this on our 2nd day in El Chalten, it was warm and with minimal wind (and lots of mosquitoes). 🦟😆

El Calafate

After El Chalten, we drove to a town called El Calafate and the drive itself is super impressive because the water ways here are a unique and stunning blue, sometimes bordering on turquoise. It looks so unusual that it feels like something out of a sci-fi movie. Apparently this is due to the glaciers in the area grinding rocks into a fine-sediment containing powder that turns the rivers and lakes their distinctive color.

Lodging 🏩

We booked a hosteria in El Calafate, which I incorrectly thought was a hostel, but we learned that ‘hosteria’ means ‘Inn’ in Spanish and it was so cute that I had to share pictures. Since it’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere, it doesn’t really feel like Christmas time as I’ve always experienced it in the United States. The days are long and warm and everyone is excited to get to the beach. There aren’t very many traditional Christmas decorations, but our hosteria made me even more excited to come home for the holidays because of how cozily and Christmas-y it was decorated. 🎄 Also the view from the dining room looked like something out of a story book.

Perito Moreno Glacier 🧊

The highlight of El Calafate is the Perito Moreno Glacier located in Los Glaciares National Park. It is a famous glacier because it is one of the few glaciers in the world that is growing instead of retreating. The drive to see the glacier was of course, totally beautiful. And the glacier itself is really remarkable in its size and sounds when it moves and pieces of glacier break off. There is a series of boardwalks to view the glacier and it took us about 2-3 hours to walk through them all.

Glaciarium Museum and Ice Bar ❄️

After the visit to the Perito Moreno, we stopped by the Glaciarium museum which gives a neat overview of how and when the glacier developed. They also have an ice bar that is literally an ice room with a small igloo and a bar that serves drinks. They gave us heavy parkas and gloves to put on before we entered, but it was still pretty chilly! 🥶

Puerto Natales, Chile 🏔️

Next, we took a bus from El Calafate to Puerto Natales, Chile in order to explore the Torres Del Paine National Park. The bus was quite comfortable with air conditioning and bathrooms. Unfortunately, the weather in Puerto Natales was windy, cold and rainy when we visited. ☔️ This was initially a disappointment because we had hoped to do some longer hikes, but we were able to rent a car and explore the park on 2 separate days, and were able to do some shorter, but still lovely hikes. The views here were extraordinary as well. 😍

The Food!! 😋

We lucked out with seriously delicious food on this trip! From empanadas in El Calafate to tasty Asian fusion and tacos in Puerto Natales, to pumpkin milenesa. After long days hiking and driving, these dishes were so satisfying!

Santiago, Chile 🌵🏜️

Worried about being stuck in the hostel in Puerto Natales in the cold and windy rain, we decided to adjust our schedule and fly to Santiago for a few days before leaving Chile. Where it was in the 30s-40s in Puerto Natales, it was the exact opposite in Santiago. On the day we arrived, it was dry and 92 degrees F! The city was fun to explore and we again found some really tasty food!

Happy Holidays and thanks again for following along! I fly back to the United States tomorrow and can’t wait to see my family and catch up with friends in the midwest before returning to Maine for one last semester. Wishing everyone a safe and lovely end to 2024 and an even better start to 2025! 🥳🎊🎉🥂🍾❤️

Goodbye Uruguay, it’s been such an adventure!

December 12, 2024December 12, 2024 / seywardrobbins7560 / 3 Comments

I can’t believe it’s December, and in just over 24 hours, I’ll be saying goodbye to Montevideo and heading to Patagonia before flying home. It feels a bit surreal that this experience is almost over!

Housing Change 🏡

Living with a host family in Montevideo turned out to be a little more of an adventure than I was expecting 😂 so in mid-November I made the decision to move out and into an Airbnb for the duration of the semester. Though my host was incredibly sweet, during the 3-4 weeks leading up to my move, both of her adult sons were living in the apartment, one with considerable health concerns (along with his unfriendly and often scary cat), and she accepted another student from Brazil. That made for 5 adults living in a tiny 4 bedroom apartment, with one son sleeping on the living room couch! 🛋️ And unfortunately there was a lot of drama and conflict that came from the family all living together and made for a tense and uncomfortable atmosphere. 😬

Though it was a tough decision to move out, the Airbnb was wonderful and I am very grateful that I was able to be in a peaceful, clean and quiet space to finish out the semester. 😃 Here are a few pictures:

The Opera! 🎭

I went to the opera a few weeks before finals. It was Cavalerria Rusticana and it was really neat! Plus, they have amazingly cheap tickets to theater events here and it was only $4 to see it. 🎉

Art Museum 🎨

Our Spanish professor took us to the National Museum of Visual Arts for one of our last classes before exams started. It features only Uruguayan artists and my favorite there is Petrona Viera, an Uruguayan painter who not only paved the way for other female artists, but whose works exhibited political statements in the early 1900s (hers is the one with the ladies below).

Saying Goodbye 🥺

During the last week of class/finals, a few of us were able to meet for dinner for one last group gathering and to say our goodbyes. Some students are flying home right after class ends, some are doing more traveling in the area with family and friends, and several are staying for another semester, either in Montevideo or in other parts of South America. I feel very lucky to have been a part of such a nice group of people this semester! Everyone was so friendly, warm and positive. It was awesome being amongst such cool people while studying here. 🥰

Stefan Arrived! 🎉

My sweet friend Stefan came to visit Montevideo for a few days and then we’ll travel together to Argentina and Chile to hike and explore Patagonia before I head back to the states. I am so grateful to have a friend who was willing to travel such a long way to see Patagonia with me! 😃

Thank you! 💕

I want to thank everyone who not only followed along with me on this interesting journey, but who used WhatsApp, FaceTime and email to stay in contact, and for all of the encouraging comments, thoughts and prayers throughout the semester! I couldn’t have done this without the support of my friends and family. I am grateful to have had this opportunity and have learned a lot, but I am definitely excited to come home!! 😍

Next up: Patagonia! 🏔️

Punta del Este 🌊☀️🏝️

November 18, 2024November 18, 2024 / seywardrobbins7560 / Leave a comment

For our last field trip of the semester, we went to a beach town about 2 hours east of Montevideo for the weekend. Saturday was warm with some wind, but perfect for exploring the beach and night life. Sunday was a down pour and we got drenched walking around, but it was still a fun adventure. ☺️

Port Tour ⚓️🚢

We started the afternoon with a lunch of empanadas. There were all kinds of flavors, including spicy beef, chicken and corn. I ended up trying the caprese empanadas and they were delicious! 🥟

Then we took a walking tour of the port area and saw some sea lions begging for fish along the docks. 🦭

The Beach 🏖️

After checking into the hotel, we had just enough time to visit the beach before the sunset.

Sushi & Night Market 🍣

For dinner that night, we found a really tasty sushi restaurant and then walked through a night market. I also found a place that sold soft serve ice cream with all the accoutrements! 🍨

Sunday Rain ☔️

Except for early in the morning, it rained all day Sunday. The beach was beautiful at sunrise, but while we waited to meet our group at the bus back to Montevideo, we got drenched exploring some shops and on our way to a cafe. But, I learned a new card game and made sure to stop by the empanada restaurant in time to grab more for lunch! 🥟

Thanks for stopping by the blog and happy November! 😃

Springtime in Montevideo! ☔️🌺

October 26, 2024October 26, 2024 / seywardrobbins7560 / 1 Comment

Being in the southern hemisphere in October feels kinda surreal. I haven’t seen one pumpkin 🎃 or a tree with yellow changing leaves 🍁. I don’t think that they sell coffee creamer in Montevideo (or if they do, I have not seen it) so no pumpkin spice lattes here. 🤣 When I would usually be pulling out my sweaters in the U.S., here I’ve started wearing sandals and sunscreen more and more. 🩴

Since it’s spring time in Montevideo, the weather is getting warmer, with temperatures in the 60-70s and a forecast this week that promises regular days in the 80s. The grass is very green and the trees are in full bloom (my allergies are so much better now)!🎉 It also rained a lot over the last few days and on one of my walks along the waterfront, I caught some really pretty dark blue skies as the storm moved away from the city. 😍

Ballet 🩰

As one of our weekly activities organized by the study abroad program, we went to see the ballet last week! It was Cinderella and was very pretty!

Fútbol ⚽️

The coordinator of our program plays soccer with one of the advanced Spanish professors at our university every week and their team challenged the study abroad students to a friendly game this week. It was pretty much a slaughter with their team finishing at something like 19 to our 2 goals. 😆🤦🏻‍♀️But it was still fun! And thankfully, it was indoors because we experienced a down pour of rain for the majority of the game!😁

Botanical & Japanese Gardens ⛲️

Since the rain let up this weekend, I was able to explore both the free botanical garden in Montevideo, which I would classify as a large park/green space, and a small museum next to a Japanese garden as well. Both were really pretty and a peaceful change from the main city scape in Montevideo where I live.

Bus Accident 🚍😳

This morning, on my walk along la rambla (the promenade along the waterfront), I noticed caution tape and a much larger crowd than usual and then I spotted a bus on the beach! The bus system here is really extensive and a great way to get around the city. According to news reports, it sounds like this poor bus had some type of mechanical failure of the brakes and it lost control and plunged onto the beach! 🥺😞The driver and passengers were injured, but thankfully, none of the injuries were fatal. It was quite the sight to see!

I hope everyone is enjoying this lovely October and happy Halloween to everyone celebrating/dressing up this weekend and next week! 👻🎃Thanks for following along with me and my adventures in South America!🌎

A Canadian Visitor & Montevideo observations! 🇨🇦🍁🇺🇾

October 14, 2024October 27, 2024 / seywardrobbins7560 / Leave a comment

It’s been 8 weeks since I moved to Montevideo! I’m at the halfway point in the semester and I can hardly believe it! 🌎

This week a nice lady from Newfoundland, Canada moved into my host’s house to take intensive Spanish language classes at a local school for 2 weeks. She is a retired teacher and came here after teaching for 5 weeks in Brazil! She is very brave with speaking Spanish and it has made our house dinners a bit more lively this week. ☺️

Over the weekend, we walked to the Montevideo sign, which was painted twice this week 😳( first a pretty blue and then this sad looking white)! We also tried a restaurant that serves brunch which was recommended by one of my professors. 🍳One of the owners of the restaurant is from Colorado! We also walked around the touristy areas of the city and bought freshly made churros! 😋

Montevideo! 😎

Since I’ve been here for nearly 2 months, I thought I’d share some interesting aspects/observations unique to living in Uruguay.

Mate 🧉

Mate is a caffeine-rich infused herbal drink made with yerba mate leaves that are soaked in hot water and it is served with a silver metal straw (bombilla). The containers that hold the yerba mate are actually called ‘mate’, so it’s like drinking mate out of mate, if that makes sense. The traditional containers are made from a small gourd with an outside cover, but you can also find ceramic mate containers as well. And along with the mate, straw and yerba mate leaves, you must carry a thermos of hot water to consistently add water to your mate. There are even carry kits for the car or for walking that hold both the thermos and mate cup. Mate is fairly bitter and I’ve been told that it is an acquired taste, but regardless, it is very popular! I see people carrying both the mate cup and thermos all over the city when I’m out walking.

Sidewalks ⚠️

I heard one of my professors joking about how annoying the broken sidewalks are here and it wasn’t until then that I started to realize that all of the sidewalks here are made of small square tiles, some of them unique and pretty. But, she was right, there is evidence everywhere of these tiles being broken and moved. I have noticed that I really have to look down when walking to make sure that I don’t trip!

Dachshunds! 🐾

When I first started taking walks, I noticed what seemed like a really large number of people with dachshunds throughout the city streets and on La Rambla (the promenade along the water). Then one of my professors confirmed that they are a very popular breed here and that they are sometimes called ‘pancho perros’ or hotdog dogs! I probably see at least 5 of them with their owners each time I venture out! So cute!

I’ve also seen quite a few dog walkers with large numbers of dogs all together, like 8 or 9! 🤗

Dulce de leche 🍮

This stuff is like caramel and very popular. While it’s been challenging to find peanut butter (and when I do, it’s about $10 for a small glass jar), this dulce de leche is everywhere! My host family says you can just eat it with a spoon or on fruit. It tastes like eating a caramel apple without the apple and is very tasty!

Food is very expensive here!! 🤯💵💰

Living here has changed my perspective on how expensive food can be! I’m not sure if it’s because most things are imported, but food and toiletries are very pricey in Uruguay! For example, I bought a medium sized SPF 40 sun screen (only available at pharmacies) and it was $37! My contact solution was $17 for a medium bottle and like I mentioned above, peanut butter is nearly $10 for a small jar. One of my classmates purchased a bottle of Cetaphil face wash and it was $41 (1741,00 Uruguayan pesos is equal to $41.90!). 🤑 Thankfully, ramen is still a cheap item, about $0.50 per package.🎉🥳🍲 There are no big box department stores but quite a few small grocery stores and it pays to shop around for the best prices.

Graffiti 🎨

There is a large amount of graffiti around the city, especially in the downtown area, on store fronts, buildings and steps. Some of it is very pretty and artistic and other areas look rough and run down. It’s been fun taking photographs as I walk around the city.

This week I met a classmate for coffee and dessert between classes and the presentation of the desserts was especially cute! ☕️🍰 And one of my classmates turned 21 and we all met at a tasty Italian restaurant (she’s Italian) 🍕to celebrate! My allergies are so much better this week too, yay for less pollen! 🙏🏽Thanks again for following along! I miss Fall in the U.S. but am grateful for a nice week in South America! 😃