Delta,
A lot of people have had good luck with low priced road pedals lasting a long time.
However, you get what you pay for- springing for a bit more (cheap pedals are $15) you can get a quality Shimano MTB pedal that works fine for the road:
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?sku=12803 for $35 .
Tell us what you decide to do!
Also, when you buy your shoes, I reccomend getting shoes with 3 straps, or ones that fit you well. I wear a size 12.5 in USA measurements and I believe I bought a size 47 EU online- I'm glad the shoes have three straps because otherwise they wouldn't have fit me very well. Nashbar folks are very helpful about shoe fit.