The cognitive, affective, and social challenges of language learning during study abroad have been well documented (Freed 1995a; Parker and Rouxeville 1995). Although young adult learners may be better at disguising their distress than my then 14-year-old son, quoted above, it seems that most learners experience a similar sense of dislocation in their new environment. This paper draws on journals and other qualitative data from undergraduate exchange students in the Anglophone and Francophone Caribbean to explore how these challenges affect learners. Although care must be taken in drawing broad conclusions, given the small number of students involved, it is nonetheless worthwhile examining these student accounts in the light of what has been documented about study abroad in other contexts. The paper contends that without similar access to a study abroad experience, Caribbean learners will be bereft of an important dimension of modern language learning, with neither the pain nor the pleasure of language learning beyond the classroom.