About Andy Steves
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Look at your time abroad as a recess from the grind of schoolwork back home, and Europe as your playground to learn from, play in and even scrape your knees a little from your travel experiences. This is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I’m here to help you make the most of it. Here's a little about me...

I’ve grown up the son of travel guru, Rick Steves. My mother, sister and myself went to visit him every summer of my life until I was 18. Wherever he was, we’d meet up with him half way through his hundred or so days in Europe each year. I remember visiting small Bavarian towns in the foothills of the Alps, to bustling capital cities and everything in between. Like any youngster, I couldn’t stand traveling with my family always having to go into museums and eat fancy food when all I wanted was a hamburger. In 2005, I went on my first European adventure independently and it opened up a whole new continent to me.

I went with my best buddy from high school. We flew into Amsterdam and did a grand tour of Europe through Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, The French Riviera including Nice and Monaco, over to the Cinque Terre, caught the Tour de France in the French Alps, made our way into the Swiss Alps, then took two night trains in a row down to Palermo for a few days, and back up to Florence and finished in Rome. The next summer, I spent two weeks in a language school, and worked for the next seven weeks as an assistant tour guide for my father’s company doing three “family friendly” tours that went from Rome to Paris through the Alps. I've been uploading my blog from this trip here. The next summer, I met up with my cousin in Seville as he was finishing a study abroad program for a few days, than made it to Rome to start another couple tours. I also did a Scandinavian tour and a “Paris and Normandy family friendly."

Not being able to stay away from the European continent for long, I went back over the next January in 2008 to start a semester abroad in Rome where I quickly noticed a need for student travel ideas. I first spent a week in Prague before school started and got into room in time for orientation. Throughout the semester I went to Venice for Carnivale, a ski trip weekend in Switzerland, the Amalfi coast, Dublin for St. Patty’s day, Sicily for spring break, the Cinque Terre, Milan, and a small hilltown in Tuscany. After the semester was over, I flew to Athens with 5 other friends where we chartered a 40 ft sailboat for a week and toured the Aegean, I spent a week in Istanbul, and one more in the Swiss Alps where I hiked and mountain biked all day every day. If you want to read more about each, check out my blog.

Here's a little info on where I'm at now: I just finished my super senior year at the University of Notre Dame and graduated May 15th as a double major in Design and Italian. I was a member of the "colorful, kilted" Irish Guard that marches with the band on gameday Saturdays and an avid racer for the"Cyclin'" Irish, on the Notre Dame cycling team. The collegiate season just lasts throughout the Spring. I've worked as a graphic designer for Legends, the on-campus latenight restaurant/bar/club venue designing posters for weekend events. If interested, check out my online design portfolio. Last summer, I completed an internship at Sparkman & Stephens, an internationally revered yacht design firm on 5th ave. in NYC.

When I got off the plane back in Amsterdam in 2005 on my own, it was a whole new world, one that I had walked through but one that I had not really known or taken advantage of until I was without the parentals. By the time I touched down in Europe in January 2008, I had already been to Europe 21 times but never lived in a single place for more than 5 or 6 days at a time. It has been always on the go. Studying abroad is a totally different experience than the frantic two-week tours most Americans are able to take. There’s time to relax, but there’s always a sense of urgency to make the most of every available weekend. I am very familiar with this feeling and want to help students studying abroad to do the best they can at this and offer free informational packages, recommended itineraries and weekend and spring break destinations throughout Europe. Check them out and let me know what you think!

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