The Student Spotlight is a glimpse into the lives of McMaster medical students through portraits and storytelling. The goal is to highlight the wonderful diversity of our student body.
Xixi Gong, a 23 year-old Chinese-Canadian from Hamilton, ON
Photographer: Darwin Chan; Editor: Selina Zeng
Meet our fourth student spotlight, Xixi Gong, who never ceases to amaze us with her beautiful energy and style. Today she shares with us some of her favourite things outside of medicine.
Favourite Hobby
“Cooking! I cook in a frenzy a lot of times when people are over, resulting in food flying all over the kitchen, especially when people are over. But I’m a huge fan of trying out classic French recipes (coq au vin, any one?), slap dash Chinese food (meat and vegetables make stir fry, right?), and continental food. I can’t bake to save my life, though. My pastries are either still undercooked or burnt to the consistency of weapon-grade blunt weapons. There is no in between. But the moment the beef sizzles, browns, you pour the red wine in… Sudden evaporation, the kitchen gets heady with the smell of wine, and just a little bit of the juice splatters out onto your apron. It’s a magical moment.
Favourite Literature
“Shakespeare has a special place in my heart. I memorized a few soliloquies in high school and they’ve stuck around like squatters in my brain since. I can use the extra memory space, but they’re pretty firmly lodged.”
Favourite Movie
“Hoo, really varies based on my mood, and how often I’ve seen it in the past year or so. Mean Girls is pretty awesome, and inspired both an unreasonable fear of high school when I saw it as a kid, and my style inspiration for a lot of high school. It took a few years of closet cleanups to purge the excessive pink from it.“
Delightful Secret
“… I don’t know what would surprise people, but my closet is literally big enough to fill a room (several rooms if I didn’t want the pile to hit the ceiling). I have excessive hair because more than 1 hair grows out of per follicle on my head, and I can be very ticklish. If someone surprised me and started tickling, I will jump about 4 feet high, screech like I’m being murdered, then proceed to laugh in a way that sounds a lot like loons calling to each other at night on lakes… That’s not an open invitation to try it. I guarantee you’ll lose some hearing by the end if you do.”
Highlight/Lowlight
When recounting a special experience in her life, Xixi described getting her first white coat and stethoscope as surreal. “The fact that I still haven’t gotten to use my white coat is a bit of a disappointment, though.”
Alternate Passion
If Xixi were not in medicine, she would love to be a wedding planner! “I worked at a bridal store before medical school and loved every minute of it. If I could be surrounded by happy brides, annoyed bridesmaids, and fussy mother in laws all day I would be. Besides that, I’m very into planning events. Making people’s big day fulfill their dream is a fun way to spend some time.”
Family Appreciation
Xixi describes her appreciation for her parents. “My parents have been pretty great about feeding me, and providing me with housing. It wouldn’t be half as fun trying to do all this without a roof or food, I think.”
