Greek Letters!!!

Physics here is utterly baffling. We need to be able to calculate how much energy in Jules it takes to melt and boil any material! What's more, in the couple weeks I've been here, I thought that the Greek letter Theta(a capital N with a loop on the top which means temperature) was just the German's cursive N (what the heck is N to the 'water'th power?)! Good thing that my grades here don't count, 'cause I'm going to get a whole lot of F's.