"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -Saint Augustine
Look at your time abroad as an opportunity to learn as much outside of the classroom as within, and see 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 WSA is here to help you make the most of it. Here's a little about Andy Steves...
Starting Young
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. We would meet up with Dad halfway through his hundred or so days in Europe each year wherever he was on the Continent. I remember visiting everything from small Bavarian towns in the foothills of the Alps to bustling capital cities and everything in between. Like any youngster, I couldn’t always stand traveling with my family, having to go into museums and eat fancy food when all I wanted was a hamburger and fries.
Independent Travel
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".
Studying Abroad
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. Throughout the semester I went to Venice for Carnevale, 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 hill town 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.
I graduated from the University of Notre Dame May 15th, 2010 as a double major in Industrial Design and Italian Language and Literature. 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, the Notre Dame cycling team. The collegiate season just lasts throughout the spring. Last summer, I completed an internship at Sparkman & Stephens, an internationally revered yacht design firm on 5th Avenue in NYC.
The WSA Concept
The WSA concept has been in continual development for the last two years since Andy returned from his semester abroad in the Spring of 2008 in Rome, Italy. After traveling 13 of his 17 weekends abroad, and organizing a number of trips for himselfand friends, Andy started AndySteves.com, a free resource for the college student abroad. He designed over 20 recommended weekend itineraries to the top locations across Europe, and developed more with the help of students from across the United States. Shortly after, he began giving travel workshops at schools like Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College in Indiana, the University of Michigan and Brigham Young University.
Andy Steves vetted the feasibility of starting a weekend tour business in Europe through Notre Dame's annual business plan competition in the springs of 2009 and 2010. After making it to the semi-finals from a solo effort in 2009, he recruited a small team to take the concept to the top in April of 2010 and won first place out of over 100 entries.
Continue reading on what we've been up to since winning the competition in our news feed as well as our timeline on facebook!