I currently have xubuntu installed on my netbook, and I'm considering converting it to the standard vanilla Ubuntu. Is this possible? If so, how do I start?
3 Answers
You'll simply need to install the ubuntu-desktop
meta-package. This installs all the nessisary packages for a "Vanilla" Ubuntu Desktop. sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
Once this has been completed you can restart your computer. At the login screen you can switch from XFCE to Ubuntu Desktop under the Session dropdown. Doing so will load the Gnome desktop.
If you're satisfied with Ubuntu Desktop and wish to remove xubuntu you can always remove the meta package xubuntu-desktop
which will remove the meta-package. If you wish to remove all the packages from the xubuntu-desktop meta package you'll have to remove those by hand. An updated list of all the packages by distrobution is available simply copy the line for your version of Ubuntu

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You can simply install all standart ubuntu package with apt
sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop
Then when you feel good with your new environement
sudo apt purge xubuntu-desktop
sudo apt autoremove
And don't forget to reconfigure GDM3 login
sudo dpkg-reconfigure gdm3
Also you may want to change Ubuntu loading screen. It is realy easy, check this answer.
Finally reboot
sudo reboot
Install ubuntu-desktop. To uninstall xubuntu, follow these guidelines: (select the right ubuntu version first) http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/puregnome
Since xubuntu-destkop is a metapackage removing it will not remove the other underlying packages. The link above tells you which ones you need

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xubuntu-desktop
isn't considered orphaned since you can have multiple Desktop Environments on one installation. However, if you removexubuntu-desktop
meta-package it should take out all packages that aren't inner-dependent for packages outside of the meta-package. One may need to run autoremove after removingxubuntu-desktop
if there are any orphaned packages though. – Marco Ceppi Jan 04 '11 at 02:32