In the era of globalization, student mobility has brought about the growth of international students pursuing their studies overseas. While there is a body of literature on international students’ educational experiences, this paper focuses on their language and communication experiences, especially how their linguistic experiences shape their identities in intercultural contexts. By taking a critical intercultural communication perspective, this paper investigates a group of international students’ intercultural communication experiences in an English-medium university in Hong Kong, with attention to their identity negotiations in their interactions with Chinese students on campus. By drawing on narratives elicited from interviews, the study revealed that international students faced both linguistic and cultural difficulties when communicating with Chinese students. For example, they found it challenging when it came to comprehending Chinese students’ English accents and understanding the norms of communication associated with the Chinese culture. They also expressed frustration when Chinese students switched to using some Chinese words occasionally in intercultural communication. However, these difficulties did not prevent international students from achieving specific communication goals in interactions with Chinese students. The findings also revealed that most international students exercised their agency in overcoming cultural differences and linguistic difficulties, negotiating shared meanings in intercultural contexts, and addressing problematic communicative situations. Furthermore, the international students’ intercultural communication experiences were found to impact on their identities as intercultural mediators and influence their sense of belonging to the university community. With English being the main language of intercultural communication, these international students also managed to construct desirable identities as competent speakers of English in their interactions with Chinese students. While English was used as a lingua franca for communication among international students and Chinese students, international students’ explicit orientations to differences in English proficiency levels among different students invoked the dynamics of power differentials in intercultural communication.