Would you be offended or flattered when work colleagues gossip about you?

I started a new job in a hospital in January and the nurses on the ward I mostly deal with seem a little nosey. I know that one of them has a big crush on me although I've told the other nurses I'm not interested in her.

Anyway, I went to the ward the other day and they were asking me a lot of questions. I ended up talking about lots of things, even how I wanted to be journalist before I worked there. But they have also gossiped about me too which made me quite cross as it's like they could've just invited me out for a beer and got to know me.

A guy I went to school with emailed me the other day and said he's about to finish his nurse training and may end of having a placement on this ward. I'm going to tell him if he comes that he's not allowed to tell them things about me at school if they start asking.

Is this normal? I think it's good that they show an interest, I just think it's frustrating they they do that and never invite me on their nights out
I'm doing fine in my job, I have regular supervision and there have been no concerns raised with the standard of my work. My point is I spend 40 hours a week at work and a huge chunk of my life. I feel that being gossiped about by coworkers is a tricky area as I could escalate it into a disciplinary issue but I'd rather just be friends with people.