<p>Yes, you did it correctly :)</p>
<p>I'm not an expert on this topic, but I've known many people who studied abroad in HS and/or college, so here are a few of my thoughts:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The European social scene can be very different for a 17 year old than the American social scene. I knew a small handful of kids who went to Europe as high schoolers (their junior years) and struggled with (1) the independence expected of them while abroad; (2) the social expectations placed on them by their foreign peers; (3) coming back home and feeling restricted. By junior year of college, when students often study abroad, the playing field has leveled.</p></li>
<li><p>Will you be eligible to graduate before you leave the US? If not, credits definitely do matter. I went to a private HS that accepted virtually zero study abroad credit, and also had required theology courses, so a student who wanted to study abroad would have had to double-up in advance. If your HS requires that you take 4 years of English before graduating (just as an example), and you leave having only taken 3.5, make sure you won't run into problems. Ditto for all subject + credit requirements. If your school "isn't big on study abroad," there could be complications.</p></li>
<li><p>Spring of senior year is a stressful, but also a very exciting time. There are often a lot of graduation events, senior class events, etc. Are you willing to miss some of this stuff? Will you be home in time to walk at graduation, or do you not care? </p></li>
<li><p>Even if you apply EA (presumably less of an issue with ED, unless you're deferred or rejected), you're likely to have admissions stuff going on during the spring. When you receive your college acceptances, will you know where you want to go without being able to do last minute visits? I can foresee some other complications, such as spring interviews for merit scholarships, or a (hopefully unnecessary) scramble to add other schools to your list. Are you willing to deal with some of this stuff from abroad, and do you have parents and/or GC who will be willing to do some advocating/organizing on your behalf, if necessary?</p></li>
<li><p>This doesn't have to be either HS or college. In theory, you can study abroad during both. As someone who studies two languages, it might be really nice for you to have an extra opportunity. You can also be sure to take study abroad into account when selecting colleges...some will allow you to spend one semester in one country and another semester somewhere else. </p></li>
<li><p>How are AP tests handled abroad? I think of AP as being a pretty American program (vs. IB), and I haven't heard of the tests being offered abroad (I've also never looked into it, so that's not intended as a factual claim). If they're not offered somewhere that you're able to get to, and if you won't be home in time to take them at your school, are you willing to forgo any potential college credit (realizing that you might not want to take the tests anyway, having only been in the classes for one semester)? </p></li>
</ul>
<p>We can't tell you whether this is worth it...it's completely up to you. I know high school kids who had wonderful experiences abroad, and also some who had really tough times. Spring of senior year seems like a very difficult time to go, IMO, but if I put my mind to it, I can also think of reasons that it would work well (college stuff is largely 'out of the way', it might ease your transition away from home and into college, etc.). Anyway, just some things to make sure you think about, not meant to indicate an opinion one way or the other. Good luck with your decision + search for further info!</p>