Extremely similar background here, similar feelings after working with .NET / modern C#. I even, semi- subconsciously perhaps, wanted to dislike it -- because I thought it was MS-ish, and ASP-ish. But really, it's a first class citizen and especially so the last few years as it's become very fast & received a ton of cross-platform support.

Once over the [quite low IMO] initial 'hurdle', it's easily amongst the most productive & best-supported "platforms" I've ever worked within.