Brigadoon? "It's Almost Like Being In Love!"
Well... when it's not dressed up as a proper noun, brigadoon simply refers to place that is idyllic, unaffected by time, and/or remote from reality. I first met this word as the proper noun title of the musical starring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. Brigadoon, then, is the name of a Scottish village that appears out of the highland mists once every one hundred years. Of course, what do you do when you fall in love with a village girl but are torn between that and your responsibilities in New York? You obviously sing and dance about it and make the wrong choice until you make the right one!
I think this word, and the musical too, ended up influencing me as I was preparing for grad school. I picked Scotland for many reasons, not least of which was that it was the only place with the program I wanted... but I can't deny my internalized sense of romance and adventure pinged every time I pictured Scotland in my head! And look, I was totally right. The scenery, the culture, the people, the Fantasy of it all held up, and the whole year felt rather like a brigadoon to me. <3