Yeah, it is a pretty rough ride converting to the JAA equiv. I knew a girl who did it, and yes the ground school is 4-5 months (14 courses), as well as having to redo the whole instrument practical. Failing and having to resit 2-3 of the subjects was quite common, if you failed 7 or more you had to resit the whole 14!
The way I look at it, the US is more interested in actual flying, to get any airline job you need 1000, in Europe the have more emphasis on ground school, if you have a great understand of the theory, and are trained with a career flying airliners, then you are safe flying a 737 with 200TT.