This past Saturday The University Centre of the Westfjords was excited to meet and welcome the new CMM class to Ísafjörður. This year the program has doubled in size which is a testament to the success of the program.

The students are coming from even more diverse countries, Mauritius, Canada, USA, England, Wales, Latvia, France, Finland, Germany and Iceland, with backgrounds ranging from biology, environmental planning, and political science to art.

On Saturday the students and staff came together to meet and learn more about each other and the program. Then the group headed to Holt in the cold for an Icelandic beach visit topped off by Hárkal, coffee and pönnukökur (Icelandic pancakes). Upon return to the University Centre the students had an opportunity to speak with a CMM student from the first year while the staff prepared a welcome barbeque.

On Sunday the students met at Tunguskógur for a short hike lead by Kristjana Einarsdóttir, from NAVE (Westfjords Nature Research), who taught the students about the plants in Iceland while they enjoyed snacking on bilberries.

Today, Monday classes in the first course began. A part of this week's teaching is the symposium on Coastal Zone Management and Spatial Marine Planning on Thursday and Friday.

Throughout the week the program will continue to welcome the students as they arrive and help them acclimate to their new homes. It is going to be a great year!