Ubuntu Light, no menus like "Application", "Places" and "System".

Hi,

I have a version of ubuntu light that gave with a Dell Inspiron laptop/netbook as a dual boot alongside Win7:
Inspiron 1120 : AMD Athlon II Neo K325 (Dual Core)

It has the new "light" interface and I cannot do anything with it except browse the web and even then that is a problem!

Basically, I would liek to know if it is possible to access simple menus like: "Application", "Places" and "System".

The interface I am presented with is similiar to that as shown here: http://liliputing.com/tag/ubuntu-light except with Chrome Browser and default search Yahoo.
i.e. big icons with little or no helpful content.

I do not see any options at boot time to change the interface.

Example problem: I cannot change the grub options as the files are read only, and I am not root, I have no way of chaging to root.
I cannot open a terminal and right clicking, left clicking and both button clicking on various part of the desktop is not giving any options either. I feel locked out of all functions.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Denis