CIEE in Andalucia

CIEE is a great idea for the person who is looking for an abroad setting but needs a little bit of support if things get chaotic. CIEE works with the Junta de Educacion in Spain and reserves spots for "auxiliares de conversacion" to be hired in schools through CIEE, specifically in ANDALUCIA. When you pay CIEE's fee, you are paying for the staff that lives in Spain and runs the program and an orientation that introduces you to topics such as apartment hunting in Spain to different accents within the Andalucian area. One positive (or negative) thing about the orientation is you immediately are meeting fellow English speakers starting their year in Spain at the same time. You have a community, should you choose to be a part of it. Although you are able to contact CIEE at any point, there is NO DIFFERENCE in your job if you went through CIEE or bypassed it and went straight through the Junta (you would be saving a few grand but have a much more complicated and confusing application process). Since this was not my first time abroad, I really didn't need the ready support I essentially paid for, but for the first timers, it may prove to be worthwhile.