Moravia: My Lesson in Saying YES

While preparing to depart for Europe someone told me to "Be a yes person. Especially in terms of traveling, say Yes to everything you can." I thought this was really good advice but that it seemed kind of obvious. Here's the story of my weekend in Moravia and how it showed me how meaningful this advice is.
I learned about the trip to Brno, Moravia in various emails after I was accepted to my program. I glanced quickly at it, only really interested in the promised underground boat ride. It was another sum of money, same country as Prague, and just didn't catch my eye. I decided to pass and didn't really think about it again. Last week, sitting at the back of the room at our first orientation meeting I realized almost everyone else was going. I signed up & paid just a couple days before we departed.
Moravia is considered the wine country of the Czech Republic, so I was looking forward to learning a thing or two. The first night we went to a wine tasting in a family owned wine cellar. I ate chicken off of the bone for the first time in years and enjoyed good wine and great company. As I looked around I said to myself "This is enough. My trip out here is already worth it."
The following day was busy with a visit to Mendel's museum, Austerlitz battlefield, and the Napoleon Museum. One thing I have noticed about traveling in a group is that moods are contagious. Our moods rise and fall together, so after a long day, our spirits were low as we began our walking tour of Brno. After snapping pictures of yet another church we turn behind it and suddenly we have the most beautiful view of the capital of Moravia. The sun was just getting ready to go down and the tops of the buildings were the perfect color. Everyone was instantly giddy as we took all the pictures we could from all of the different angles we could find. The walking tour ended with a few more churches at which time we separated for the night.
Even with little sleep, I was excited for our adventure to the caves of Moravia. At breakfast I was told that we were scheduled to go to two churches before that. I hate to be negative, but I had already been to so many churches that I could not believe there could be more to see. The trip was then named "The No Church Left Behind Tour." I won't bore all of you with all of the details, but it was pretty brutal to wait in the cold while the services got out (it was Sunday) and get AN HOUR LONG lesson on a wood carving.
When we finally made it to the caves I could hardly contain my excitement. We walked 20 minutes to the cave entrance and walked through. It was unlike anything I have ever seen. It was huge and water flowed through most of it. I realize that it is hard to impress college students. There are almost always some that remain cynical or negative, and mostly unappreciative. The caves impressed us all. Everyone "OOHed" and "AHHed", took pictures, and talked about how cool it was. The boat ride felt like a ride at Disney World - at any moment I was sure that there would be a huge drop off and everyone would put their hands up as we splashed down a slide. Though this did not happen, we did bump into a wall with almost every turn and the people sitting on the sides had to constantly bend over each other to avoid low ceilings and ledges. By the time I got out of the boat I could only really think of one thing: I almost missed this. I couldn't believe that I came so close to missing out on such an amazing trip.
As we headed back to Prague everyone was quiet as the sunset lit up the sky the deepest pinks and oranges. I could no longer imagine missing out on this trip or any others. Moravia taught me that in terms of travel and adventure, the answer should always be yes.