By Evelyn Liman Li 
This whole journey of a very intense period of hands-on conservation experience is just a dream come true for me. At the age of 17, trying to figure out what exactly my career path is seems to be the most important thing for me.
Throughout this internship, I noticed myself being better and better at diving itself and more familiar with all the surroundings in the ocean. It’s so cool that this experience is not just a “learning” session but rather a real scientist-like experience. People on this island and at Big Blue are genuinely just so nice and simple, so even just staying at Koh Tao for one month is just so relaxing and feels like a real break from the city.
At first I was worried about not having enough things to do on the island but it turns out the schedule is just so ideally packed, and of course, diving itself is physically draining and you wouldn’t really have that much energy to do anything else to be honest. Spending time and finding inner peace by diving every single day but at the same time, getting to do something that’s beneficial for the environment is just a purely perfect combination.
I could not explain how much meaning this internship has brought me this summer as a person trying to get along with myself and figure out what my real interest is. I’m so proud of myself for being the independent teenage girl doing all of this on my own. Even though I would say that I did find out that I’m probably not gonna take marine biology as my future major, this experience is not something that everyone can do before their uni application. It would be such a memorable and irreplaceable summer for me.
I’m not sure if I’m the first minor to take part in the internship, but if there’s anyone around my age considering joining, I would definitely encourage you to give it a go. It’s such a valuable experience and a great opportunity to explore your interest in the ocean, learn more about marine conservation, and find out whether this is something you’d genuinely like to pursue in the future.
In the end I just wanna say, that this summer is going to be truly influential in my chapters of life and that I cannot fully express the amount of appreciation I’ve got for being here for the summer. I would never hesitate to do this internship even looking back from now. So many great memories made and LOVE everyone.