Not many people get to study abroad at the age of 13.

Caleb Cook is one of those select few, however, and he just got back from a six-month trip to Indonesia where he found a king cobra in his backyard, learned how to ride a motorcycle, and learned a whole lot of Indonesian history.

"One of the first things he said when he got back [to America] was that he wanted to go back in high school," said Caleb's father, John Cook.

Caleb has been traveling back and forth on one-month trips to Indonesia ever since he was born. His father, a field service engineer, met his mother Winda Cook while working on a paper mill project there.

On a planned trip to Indonesia last summer, Caleb decided that he wanted to stay longer, and made the journey to the archipelago on Christmas Eve of last year.

Caleb's experiences were full of fun adventures (he twice journeyed over the equator and vacationed next to a volcanic lake), but his most impressionable experience was a lesson learned about the fragility of life when proper precautions are not taken.

Only two weeks into his stay in Indonesia, Caleb was shopping in a mall when he heard a scream. He ran over to where the sound came from and saw a crowd of people gathered around the body of a young child.

The child had fallen off an escalator to his death because the escalator did not have high enough railings to protect riders from falling.

"It felt kind of traumatizing," said a reticent Caleb.

His father was a little more explicit about the experience's effect on Caleb.

"He's usually not that wordy, not that expressive, but it was a long e-mail that he sent me," said John Cook.

The death left an impact on Caleb, who added that unmaintained roads, a lack of jobs, and corruption were also part of what he observed in the developing country.

But there were other experiences as well.

Caleb stayed with his aunt, uncle, and cousins at their home in the city of Pekanbaru, smack dab in the middle of the island of Sumatra.

Caleb attended an "international school," or a private school for international students as well as affluent Indonesians, called the Witama School during his time abroad.

Caleb said that, being an American, he was one of the most popular kids there, which was not an experience he always liked.

"It's annoying after everybody asks me the same question over and over again," he explained.

Caleb also had to get used to a different class size. There were 200 to 300 students in the whole school, but only five students in his whole 8th grade.

He also had to get used to a different schedule. The Witama School started at 8 a.m., similar to schools in America, but didn't end until 4:40 p.m.

That's because many schools in Indonesia meet on Saturdays, Caleb said, but the Witama School only met Monday through Friday.

Caleb said that class was conducted in English half of the time, and in Indonesian the other half of the time. That did not stop him from picking up the Indonesian language, however, and Caleb is now 80% fluent.

"He's pretty fluent with it now, and he's going to continue speaking it with his mother here," said John Cook. "Well actually, he's probably more fluent than she is right now," he added with a laugh.

Some experiences made Caleb homesick, however.

Food was one of them. A large part of the Indonesian diet consists of rice dishes with meat and fish, Caleb said, and he soon missed the variety of food in America.

Caleb also never got used to the heat of Indonesia's tropical climate. Whenever he was in the house, he would mostly hang out in his air-conditioned room.

Sometimes Caleb would find additional friends in his room, including a scorpion one day and a hairy grey tarantula another day.

Caleb was not happy with the surprise visitors and called his cousin to get rid of the eight-legged arachnid.

To his disappointment, however, Caleb's cousin did not kill the tarantula, but took a tennis racket and gently placed it outside.

"It's not really a big deal for him," Caleb said.

Regardless of his challenges, whether it was learning the language or coming face-to-face with the dangers of living in a developing country, John Cook said that he wanted his son to learn that he could handle those challenges.

"I'm all for it," John Cook said about living abroad. "I want him to understand that there are really no limits on what he can do when he can grows up or where he can go. I see so many people who are afraid to venture out," he said.

Caleb says he is up for the challenge.

"I could handle it," he said. "It's not a problem, you just need to know what you're doing and be aware."