1. Do NOT pay anything up front! The moment you do so, the Murphy's Law steps in and everything will go wrong - FTO going broke, aircraft gets involved in an accident, etc.
2. Theoretically in order to maintain SEP (single engine piston) rating on JAA PPL(A) you need 12 hours every two years (of which of of them must be with an instructor) or even cheaper solution - one flight with an examiner every two years. If you want to carry (non-revenue of course) passengers, you will have to have 3 take-offs and landings in the last 90 days - and if you will get night qualification, one of those 3 takeoffs/landings has to be done at night.
3. First time I was demonstrated a stall and recovery at first signs of buffet, I though I was facing imminent death and scared the s*** out of me. Really, I thought I could never adapt to "free falls", but a year and couple of days later I did my first spin recovery training and it was the best fun I've had in years
As you do more flying and the body and mind adapt, stalling will feel no different as a little turbulence. Besides, most of today's training aircraft are very stable throughout the stall and all you can feel is "mushing" - try a Tomahawk if you can find one and look at its tail during stall - not pretty
Buying a decent (but not 1000€ worth) headset is in my opinion a must-have, especially if you plan to fly in lot of different aircraft. Plus those headsets that everybody uses are usually worn up and won't give you the best protection. I had ear-pain after almost every flight and the day I decided to buy my own pair of headset (but exactly the same model that I was using before) - pain gone