Six months in — the honest pros and cons list I promised myself I'd write

Six months in the Netherlands as of this week. Before I left I promised myself I'd write an honest list at this point, not the version I send home. So here it is.

Pros

• I cycle everywhere. My legs have never been this strong and my umbrella has never been this useless.
• Work finishes when it finishes. Nobody expects replies at 9pm, and I've stopped apologising for logging off.
• Direct feedback. Painful at first, now weirdly relaxing. I always know where I stand.
• I feel safe walking home at night, which I did not expect to affect me as much as it has.

Cons

• The weather is a personality test and I am failing it.
• Making friends is slow. People are friendly, but their calendars were full before I arrived.
• My Dutch is at the level where people switch to English out of kindness, which is its own kind of defeat.
• Missing home hits at random. It was a bag of rusks in a shop last week that did it.

Would be curious to see other people's six-month lists, especially the cons nobody warned you about.