[Idiom] heyday of one's life

[ChessEnthusiast]

I know that the expression "to be in the heyday" means something like "to have the best time of one's life". However, is it possible to modify this expression a little bit and say something like this:

He has always imagined going to university as the heyday of his life but the reality burst his bubble.

 

[emsr2d2]

We don't usually refer to the heyday of a person's life. It's usually used to describe a time when something was at its most popular. For example, "During the heyday of silent films, over 200 films were being produced every week".

 

[Tdol]

If you did want to use it, you'd have to change the verb forms:

He had always imagined that going to university would be the heyday of his life, but reality burst his bubble.

 

[ChessEnthusiast]

Tdol,
Thank you, The verb forms are a good point here!
However, you also replaced "imagined as" with "imagined that...", would this sentence be incorrect in terms of grammar:
"He had always imagined going to university as the heyday of his life, but reality burst his bubble."

 

[teechar]

No, stick with Tdol's version above.