International experience is often assumed to be ‘life-changing’, providing crucial learning opportunities for intercultural development, Second Language proficiency, global- mindedness, and personal growth (Jackson and Oguro, 2018). However, a large body of research has drawn attention to the complexity in the nature of SA and has challenged the immersion assumption regarding intercultural and linguistic progress abroad (Coleman, 2013, Jackson, 2018). L2 sojourners may react differently to intercultural contact and some may develop their L2 competence only to a certain extent (Jackson, 2012). Research findings on this complex interrelationship of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and intercultural development in the SA context point out the necessity of further investigation (Davidson et al., 2016). This study reports on the impact of a semester abroad in Spain on L2 learners’ awareness of the meaning and use of L2 conventional expressions in social interactions, as well as on several intercultural dimensions related to Cultural Intelligence (CI) (Earley & Ang, 2003). In the study, 118 Flemish students of Applied Linguistics were tracked during three different academic years through their sojourn abroad. Before their departure and after their return, data on their awareness of the meaning and use of L2 conventional expressions, as well as participants’ Cultural Intelligence profile was collected through the Modified Aural Vocabulary Knowledge Scale for Pragmatic Purposes (Bardovi-Harlig, 2008) and the Expanded Cultural Intelligence Scale (Ang et al., 2007) respectively. Results on participants’ learning outcomes show significant progress regarding their awareness of the meaning and use of L2 pragmatic expressions and intercultural abilities after the experience abroad, except for their extrinsic motivation towards the Erasmus experience and their ability to plan interactions in the target language culture. When looking at possible interrelationships between L2 pragmatic and intercultural development abroad, ...