Rees Hall

Leah: Hello, everybody. My name is Leah, and I am going to be taking you and your 360 tour of Rees Hall. I actually do currently live here. I am in first year at the University of Portsmouth studying international business. I cannot recommend Rees Hall enough. I've made literally my best friends here already and it's such a good place for both socialising and studying. 

First of all, looking from the outside, it's so pretty and it has such a hotel feel to it, but it also is in such a nice location. So if I turn the camera around just outside, you have a large green area which we know as The Common. You can kick a football around there, play lots of outdoor games. It's great. You also just have the beach literally right there with a funfair on it and mini golf. So lots of activities and it's amazing when the weather is nice. If you're also lucky enough, you might get one of the front window rooms and you'll have an amazing view of the sea.

Rees Hall does look like it's a little bit far away from the university if you look at a map, but it's actually only a 12 minute walk away, which really isn't long at all. And if you were to walk to university, you just have to walk around there. There are shops and stuff down there as well, such as co-op, in case you ever need to buy anything while at Rees Hall.

So I'll now take you inside the building. So here we have the reception. The reception is amazing because it's open pretty much 24 hours and if a receptionist isn't there, then someone from the security team will be there. And if there's no one there at all, they will either have a phone number you can call, or they'll post a time when they'll be back. So if you ever need anything, they're at your disposal. 

Also, if you know you're going to be getting a parcel, you can just let reception take it and they will look after it for you until you arrive and you show them your halls ID and then they'll be able to give it to you. And to actually get in the building as well is very safe because you have to enter a pin on the outside door, which enables you to get into the building. And then to get through these doors here, you need to have a student card which is only given to people who live at Rees Hall. So that's really good. And there is also disabled access as well just from the back. And there's disabled access to all the rooms and everything as well. 

Moving on, I'll show you a smaller communal room. So at the back here we have lockers for any smaller post that you're expecting, like letters and stuff. They'll just go in there and you'll have a key so that you can go and get them out at your own disposal. So this is the smaller room, as I said. But it's great because in these cupboards you have so many board games like Jenga and Monopoly and you also have a TV, which obviously you can plug your Xbox in, you can plug a PS4 in. I've personally played lots of Wii games in here, so this small room is really good for small groups of people to socialise in.

I’ll then take you to a larger communal room at Rees Hall. So just through here is a larger communal room. You can see there's also a TV here which you can plug in as well. Of course this one is a lot bigger, so this is where a lot of events will be held for Rees Hall. So for example, at Halloween they do pumpkin carving, at Christmas, Christmas tree decorating, they do karaoke. There's always something going on in this room for people to meet people and make friends. It's amazing. 

This room does look a little bit different now, though, because over here you actually now have a pool table and over here you have a foosball table. So obviously, you can imagine they're both very fun and completely at your own leisure to use as well, you just have to ask reception. So this room is great for socialising.

While I'm in this room as well, I am just going to mention about the cost of Rees Hall. So it is £173 per week, but obviously Rees Hall is catered, so that does include your breakfast and dinner. 

So moving on. So I'm next going to take you to one of the bedrooms here at Rees Hall. So this is a standard bedroom. Everybody's would look like this, a single bed, bedside table, you have some drawers here, you have an extremely large desk – you could fit everything on that and have all your books out at once. It's brilliant. You obviously have your shelves here, you have a pin board here, which I encourage everyone to make their own. I have pictures plastered all over mine and it really does make you feel more homely. 

You have this massive wardrobe which you can see as well in this photo, in this 360 tour. But it goes so far back. You have like your hanging clothes here, you have an additional shelf above it and this top cupboard has a lot of storage in it as well. 

The bedroom obviously on this 360 tour doesn't look too big, but I promise you I turned up with 3 suitcases on move in day and I was like ‘where is it all going to go?' But it really does fit and it's a perfect size, really, for one person. 

And every single room has an en-suite. So obviously have your sink, your toilet, your towel rack. You've got a mirror with an additional light on it as well. So the en-suites are wet rooms. The showers do only have a shower curtain which is there. But yeah, it's never an issue. I mean if you have a shower in the morning, by the time you back from one lecture, the water is completely drained out like it's never ever a problem, and I quite liked it to be honest. 

So I'll go back to the main room. So obviously all the bedrooms have super good Wi-Fi as well. Wi-Fi that pretty much is connected to the whole town actually. 

I will now just take you back. Down every corridor, for about every ten rooms, you have a little kitchenette. So obviously Rees Hall is catered and I never really found I needed to buy extra food, so the kitchenettes are rarely used. So that's why they are all pretty small. Most of them do actually have two fridges, unlike this one, but they do also have two microwaves and a kettle. So this is really just for whenever you missed a meal by accident. Or you're feeling extra hungry in between meals. But yeah, like I said, they never really get used. So they do look small, but they don't run out of storage and you always have fridge space and stuff to use. 

I'll take you back to reception to see the best part about Rees Hall. So obviously, I said the kitchenettes hardly ever get used. That is mainly because of the large gap you have to get each meal. So you have about 3 hours to get breakfast and 3 hours to get lunch. And even on the weekends, the time to get breakfast is made 2 hours later. It starts at 10.00am, because obviously they know you’re students and you are going to sleep in.

So this is the canteen. It does have a bit of a diner feel to it, but it's honestly the best thing about Rees Hall because, you know, you make a group of friends and you all get to sit together on a table and eat dinner together. So you always coordinate times of when you're all going to come down together and you can eat together, especially towards Christmas time, you get to have a Christmas meal together. It's really, really nice, even when you don't think anyone's down here, you always see someone you know, so you never, ever eat alone at Rees Hall. 

So here is actually where you get your food. So like I said, for example, breakfast. Obviously, the drink station stays the same, so you got your juice, you got your coffee or tea – you can have as many teas as you want. You also have a little bread bar, you’ll have a full English across there with pancakes, sometimes croissants to accompany it. You also have fruit and yoghurt and stuff, which is all in the cold section. 

And then at dinner time it's a similar layout, but you have your main option across here and then you have chips and vegetables, which you can have as much as you want. You'll have your hot pudding and then you'll have your cold pudding and a salad bar as well. So there is so, so much to choose from in this canteen, it’s brilliant and they try to do like a different theme every week, for food, so you'll never eat the same thing twice, really. 

Also, if you do think you're ever going to miss a meal, you can literally send them an email and they'll save you some food. It's absolutely brilliant their canteen and everyone's so nice that work there. 

So to sum up, obviously all your bills and stuff are included with Rees Hall, that price does include the canteen, which is so handy, just not having to cook anything for the whole year. But yes, I hope to see you next year. I can't recommend Rees Hall enough. I hope you have a lovely day. Thank you for choosing to watch this 360 video.