For the last six months Melanie Black has been living in Kuala Hati,a small village in the south of sumatra. Together with six other volunteers from save the seas,a nonprofit charitable organization, Melanie has been working with an Indonesian marine research team to survey the ocean environment. She says it has been the most amazing experience of her life " I'm not usually adventurous," Melanie told us,"but when I came accross the save the seas at in our local newspaper, I knew immediately it was for me. I started getting ready for the trip right away and I set of for Indonesia a week later." "I've always been interested in the ocean. I'm going to study Marine Biology at college next semester,but all the same it was hard hear at first. The local people aren't accustomed to seeing Westerners, and they used to come over to our tents and stay at us. Things got better when we learned to speak the local language, and now they have really accepted us into their community. We're invited to join in with all their activities-I've been to six weddings since I arrived!" And I've even taken up surfing!" "All the volunteers are on a year off before starting college. We didn't know each other before we arrived, but we all get along brilliantly-I feel like I've made friends for life!" "This experience has really helped me a lot . It has given me a lot of confidence. I think taking a year off makes you more mature and independent. You grow up so quickly. I 'm really looking forward to going back to the states and starting college now!