First let me convey my condolences for joining the Outlook 2010 users.

Your questions has a couple of answers. However, you will not really get the same feel of OE with Outlook 2010. Located on the the top of your Outlook you will see 'View'. i would start working with the layout section ( to the right within the view bar). Each view can be customized.

Also, you can simply double click a message for it to open in a new window.

You mentioned additional questions may arise. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you would like.

Hope this info helps