"The 2012 ACYD: seven days with no sleep, no peace, a blizzard of ideas, personalities and language. It made foie gras of my previously fairly healthy mind, force fed on a diet of eureka moments, chilli and the occasional beer. As a self-proclaimed Sinophile who has not had a decent bowl of dandanmian in seven years, ACYD gave me the opportunity to talk with the people who are currently doing the deals, framing the big questions and pioneering new aspects of the Australia-China relationship. More importantly, I ate frog, sang karaoke, practiced tai chi, cracked bad jokes, exchanged cringe worthy dance moves and pretended to be sophisticated with a group of truly excellent young and youngish people from Australia and China. By the end of the week, I was like an eight year old being dragged home from the Easter Show, tired, emotional, but thinking of every type of scheme I could imagine so I could stay in China with my new friends just a little longer.