One other thing that will really help with the radios (especially on longer sectors) is to look at the flight plan and pick out the VORs and their full names.
That way, when you're cleared direct to Karlsruhe or Coulommiers you have a vague idea of what's just been said to you and know the ident (KRH or CLM for example) to look for in the flight plan.
But IMHO experience with the radios only comes with time. If your airline flies with headsets on in the cruise bite the bullet and get a noise-canceling one.