[platypeese]

You're young so I would suggest doing study abroad either for a year or a summer program. There are many opportunities for students in high school to study abroad but it is rarely taken advantage of.

I went to japan for six weeks through a program called youth for understanding. It's a great program that has a lot of funding to give many students scholarships and it's not limited to japan. Look into it, I highly recommend it. The program is highly based on volunteers which is cool, but it sometimes takes time for them to get back to you (I didn't know I was going to Okinawa until my predeparture orientation which was two days before going XD).