Study abroad programmes have become increasingly popular with university students and within academia. They are often seen as an experiential opportunity to expand student learning and development, including increases in global, international and intercultural competences. However, despite the increasing popularity of and participation in study abroad programmes, many student concerns and uncertainties remain. This research investigates initial pre-departure concerns and apprehensions of students undertaking a one-semester study abroad programme, and uses these as context for an examination of violated expectations of students during their programme. The research uses interpretative phenomenological analysis to interpret data collected from regularly updated blogs composed by students throughout their study abroad experience. The process of using blogs to collect data is less formalized than many other approaches of interpretative phenomenological analysis, enabling ‘in-the-moment’ feedback during the study abroad programme and lending greater depth to the understanding of student perceptions.