Looking for information about a parable that I remember from my childhood

I grew up orthodox religious, but haven’t been engaged with the religion in a couple of decades now.

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend about the sanctity of practice. I remembered a parable from yeshiva about students who asked their rabbi if Shabbat feels special because of something intrinsic to the day or merely due to the traditions that are practiced during Shabbat. The rabbi had the students experiment on a weekday. So they dressed nicely, went to shul, said the prayers, had the dinner, sang the songs, etc. And they found that the day did feel special despite the fact that it was a regular weekday.

I’ve been looking for sources to the story online but can’t find anything.

Any reference or insight would be highly appreciated. Thank you.