Walking the Camino Frances as a graduation assignment

[N1TRO]

This is copied over from the introducion thread:

Hey everyone,

I'm Aleš from Maribor, Slovenia. I'm a soon to be graduate of a tourism management college, but before that happens I need to do a graduation assignment. Now, I've been thinking about doing a Camino for a couple of years now, but I could never find a good time for it. These days the more I think about it, the more it draws me and the conditions are stacking together quite nicely.

The plan I'm putting together is to start walking sometime mid march or beginning of april and collect stories of places and people I meet along the way. Couple them together in a kind of diary and it should make for a pretty good graduation project, I think. Getting there and then completing the walk shouldn't be too much of a problem, I'm currently in pretty good physical shape and I regularly hike and cycle. But I would like to ask if anyone has experience doing similar things - collecting stories, interviewing fellow travellers along the way etc. I guess it just comes from talking, and there should be enough time to do that. Still, any special pointers or themes to focus on would be appreciated.

Anyhow, feel free to comment and improve on my idea, your thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

 

[november_moon]

I think it sounds like a great idea. And people will definitely be willing to talk to you. Be prepared with a beer and wine budget to facilitate the discussions

I would think about the aspects of the Camino that you want to focus on. Are you interested in people's spiritual experiences over time? Their personal development? Highlighting the diversity of people on the Camino? What direction do you want to take your project? Then develop a set of questions meant to direct the conversations - help provide focus for yourself and for those you would be talking to. You don't need to be formal with your questions when talking to people, like an interview, but having some questions in mind will help keep your focus.

Also, consider how you will record the conversations - notes on paper, with a tablet, audio recording? You want to make sure it is something that you can easily do, and also that people will be comfortable with - they might not be as open if they are being recorded, for example. That might be the easiest for you, but the stories you get might not be as good.

 

[dougfitz]

It will be interesting to see how you balance the demands of walking and doing the data collection for your research.

Might I suggest that you discuss the research methods with your supervisor. You will not want to invalidate your data collection by using methods that do not meet the technical and ethical standards of the institution where you are studying. They might want you to do more than 'just talking'. How you initiate any interview so people know that they are being interviewed and they are not just chatting to another pilgrim, ensuring that you are clear about how you will deal with privacy issues, having a consistent set of interview questions, etc, etc will all need to be considered.

I hope you do not expect everyone to welcome your interest and attention. There will be pilgrims who are willing to participate, but I know that I wouldn't welcome it.

 

[MTtoCamino]

Any reason to walk is a good one. I think you will find many that will be willing & some not so much. The biggest issue may be getting access to a larger group to interview, if you do not slow down you will have a limited number of people. You may have to slow down a number of times.
Have a great time!

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, N1tro,
You've gotten good advice here, and as a confirmed Camino addict, I can assure you that you will find lots of people who want to talk to you, the Camino is a great incubator for all sorts of interpersonal relationships. But my tip would be that you should contact KinkyOne of this forum, who is also from Slovenia. He's walked a million caminos (well, maybe not that many), but he has walked a lot and participates here a lot. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[spursfan]

Not surprisingly, since this is a forum for pilgrims, most have concentrated on interviewing pilgrims

But since he's studying tourism management, he should surely have a wider focus as well - how the assortment of accommodation (albergues both communal and private, bars, pensions, hostals and hotels) meet the needs of pilgrims - issues of cost, location and seasonality amongst others - and interview the suppliers as well - as well as local and regional bodies that support the Camino

 

[Botaivica]

Hi, N1tro,

if you pay for a wine, everyone will talk to you

 

[N1TRO]

Thanks everyone, great stuff all around. The more I think about it, the more obvious it becomes that there's enough material here for several trips, not just one. Plainly I'll have to focus on a specific subject, which could be a challenge with so many things going on. I'd like to get narrowed down answers for the sake of research, but on the other hand I'd go for my own self as well, to meet new people and hear their stories. I wouldn't want to appear only as an annoying guy, getting in everyone's way, if you know what I mean.

So just briefly, some of the focus points could be:

• my own story as a kind of an extented travel diary
  
• general stories of other pilgrims
  
• motives for walking, goals etc.
  
• legends & history of the camino
• accomodation & other service providers along the way
  
• a cross between religion and tourism, but I'm not a particularly religious person
• culinary aspects, but I'm pretty limited in that aspect as well

And surely a whole lot more. Thank you all once again, but please don't stop with the ideas. I'll have to check with my college mentors to get some feedback on all this. I'll be setting up a "beverage fund" pretty soon as well.

 

[J F Gregory]

My wife and I begin our pilgrimage on March 19th perhaps we will meet one another.

 

[MTtoCamino]

Thanks everyone, great stuff all around. The more I think about it, the more obvious it becomes that there's enough material here for several trips, not just one. Plainly I'll have to focus on a specific subject, which could be a challenge with so many things going on. I'd like to get narrowed down answers for the sake of research, but on the other hand I'd go for my own self as well, to meet new people and hear their stories. I wouldn't want to appear only as an annoying guy, getting in everyone's way, if you know what I mean.

So just briefly, some of the focus points could be:

• my own story as a kind of an extented travel diary
  
• general stories of other pilgrims
  
• motives for walking, goals etc.
  
• legends & history of the camino
• accomodation & other service providers along the way
  
• a cross between religion and tourism, but I'm not a particularly religious person
• culinary aspects, but I'm pretty limited in that aspect as well

And surely a whole lot more. Thank you all once again, but please don't stop with the ideas. I'll have to check with my college mentors to get some feedback on all this. I'll be setting up a "beverage fund" pretty soon as well.

I see a sensitive subject "Why are you walking" that is so personal I doubt you will get many honest answers. It may make some avoid you.
In any case
Buen Camino

 

[Mark Lee]

I see a sensitive subject "Why are you walking" that is so personal I doubt you will get many honest answers. It may make some avoid you.
In any case
Buen Camino

That was one thing I noticed on my Caminos. I was asked frequently why I was walking it, but I never asked the question myself to anyone.

 

[Dave C.]

I am starting mid April in SJPdP, if I see you I will answer anything you want. I'll even buy the Vino ( for N1TRO). College students are on a budget. My daughter is on mine.

 

[november_moon]

Yeah, the "why are you walking?" question was asked so often that I felt like I should develop an elevator speech to answer it

 

[MTtoCamino]

Yeah, the "why are you walking?" question was asked so often that I felt like I should develop an elevator speech to answer it

I think my " I can't shake my invisible friend" worked very well

 

[Mark Lee]

Yeah, the "why are you walking?" question was asked so often that I felt like I should develop an elevator speech to answer it

I will admit to making stuff up sometimes when I answered it.
Said stuff that I thought the person might want to hear.

 

[N1TRO]

I guess it's a good icebreaker. Nobody does the walk on a whim, everyone comes for a reason. Granted, not everyone is ready to talk about their motives, but people generally like to hear other's stories, especially if one comes from half way around the world.
I'm curious - when walking, do you usually stay with roughly the same group of people throughout the trip, or do they change every day? And what are the group sizes on average? Of course, you probably could try to isolate yourself if you wanted to, but' that's not what I'm after.

 

[Botaivica]

Hi nitro,
most people come for the sake of religious motives. But almost no one tells you that he come to pray for healing mother, father, brother, himself ,a child, wife / husband .... My example, I am a Catholic and I watched the movie, I was not be attracted. I read travelogues, I was not be attracted. Talked with a friend who was on the Camino, I was not be attracted,
While in conversation with two friends, as a secondary issue, we make mention of Camino and in one moment I said, "I'm going".
What is my motive?

 

[MTtoCamino]

I guess it's a good icebreaker. Nobody does the walk on a whim, everyone comes for a reason. Granted, not everyone is ready to talk about their motives, but people generally like to hear other's stories, especially if one comes from half way around the world.
I'm curious - when walking, do you usually stay with roughly the same group of people throughout the trip, or do they change every day? And what are the group sizes on average? Of course, you probably could try to isolate yourself if you wanted to, but' that's not what I'm after.

Every walk is unique as to how many people you walk with temporarily or the whole way. For the first 2 weeks my experience was getting close to 3 people & then it was time for them to go home. 2 of the original group I began with walked or arrived in Santiago, many bussed ahead. Or simply did not have enough time. Some do find a group going the distance some do not.

 

[jeffnd]

I guess it's a good icebreaker. Nobody does the walk on a whim, everyone comes for a reason. Granted, not everyone is ready to talk about their motives, but people generally like to hear other's stories, especially if one comes from half way around the world.
I'm curious - when walking, do you usually stay with roughly the same group of people throughout the trip, or do they change every day? And what are the group sizes on average? Of course, you probably could try to isolate yourself if you wanted to, but' that's not what I'm after.

My own experience is that I made a Camino "family" my first day out, and over the next few days we would lose people and add people. About 2 and a half weeks into my trip, I was walking by myself. I kept running into the same people, though. For example, I might see the German girl one day, then see her again two days later. My last week though, I had another Camino family that I walked with until Santiago.

Since your major is tourism management, you might want to also talk to various business owners along the way. Many albergues have been in the same family for generations. You could talk to them about the changes that have taken place along the Camino. And of course there are bar and shop owners as well. You could ask them about the challenges of dealing with different languages and cultures on a daily basis. Maybe you could even find some local officials who manage the Camino and ask them about what it takes to keep the way appealing to pilgrims.

 

[HeidiL]

It sounds as if you are planning to use qualitative methods - cool! I did a Master's degree with (mainly) qualitative methods last year, you can write to me if you want to discuss informed consent forms, recording technology and transcription/translation...

Won't be replying for the next couple of weeks, though, I'm off for a walk from Thursday.

 

[KinkyOne]

I guess it's a good icebreaker. Nobody does the walk on a whim, everyone comes for a reason. Granted, not everyone is ready to talk about their motives, but people generally like to hear other's stories, especially if one comes from half way around the world.
I'm curious - when walking, do you usually stay with roughly the same group of people throughout the trip, or do they change every day? And what are the group sizes on average? Of course, you probably could try to isolate yourself if you wanted to, but' that's not what I'm after.

I assume you're talking about Camino Frances (maybe del Norte, Portugues and dela Plata) here? Because there are routes where you don't meet any other walker for hundreds of kilometers

I'm coming from SLO and you can contact me if you wish.

K1

 

[KinkyOne]

...You could ask them about the challenges of dealing with different languages and cultures on a daily basis...

Mostly I don't remember any of them either "chellenged" or "dealing" with different languages But that makes the Camino more interesting for me.

 

[N1TRO]

Again thanks for the offered support, I'll surely be contacting some of you sooner or later.

Talking to accomodation owners is on the must-do list, if they don't have fun stories to tell, then no one does. And to learn about the changes that have taken place in the dacades or even centuries, well... Sure, there's nothing new about walking, but everything that comes along with it is.

As far as collection methods, for now I'm mainly thinking about just pen and paper, I don't want to rely on technology too much. Cover everything in plastic so it doesn't get wet in case of rain, it's light, doesn't take up much space and it's fool proof. A voice recorder of some sort would be more practical for storing data, but you'd have to worry about charging, empty space, things getting broken or lost... A small photo camera will be more than enough I think. Everything else somehow ruins the feeling of it for me.

We'll see how things shape up in the end. I must admit that I haven't done much in-depth research on the Camino and the following topics, but I have ordered a pair of books which should be home any day now (one is the Brierley guide and the other Call of the Camino by Mullen Robert). I'll delve into them when they arrive and hopefully get a better picture of how to go about things. I could just scour the internet from top to bottom, but a big part of travelling is the unexpected moments and discovering the unknown, and a lot of that gets lost these days when you have so much information available at your fingertips.

 

[newfydog]

In medieval times, criminals would be sentenced to walk to Santiago. Good answer for the question.

 

[mary flo]

Again thanks for the offered support, I'll surely be contacting some of you sooner or later.

Talking to accomodation owners is on the must-do list, if they don't have fun stories to tell, then no one does. And to learn about the changes that have taken place in the dacades or even centuries, well... Sure, there's nothing new about walking, but everything that comes along with it is.

As far as collection methods, for now I'm mainly thinking about just pen and paper, I don't want to rely on technology too much. Cover everything in plastic so it doesn't get wet in case of rain, it's light, doesn't take up much space and it's fool proof. A voice recorder of some sort would be more practical for storing data, but you'd have to worry about charging, empty space, things getting broken or lost... A small photo camera will be more than enough I think. Everything else somehow ruins the feeling of it for me.

We'll see how things shape up in the end. I must admit that I haven't done much in-depth research on the Camino and the following topics, but I have ordered a pair of books which should be home any day now (one is the Brierley guide and the other Call of the Camino by Mullen Robert). I'll delve into them when they arrive and hopefully get a better picture of how to go about things. I could just scour the internet from top to bottom, but a big part of travelling is the unexpected moments and discovering the unknown, and a lot of that gets lost these days when you have so much information available at your fingertips.

This sounds fantastic! I am starting the March 15 from SJPDP, maybe we can chat!!

 

[MTtoCamino]

In medieval times, criminals would be sentenced to walk to Santiago. Good answer for the question.

Hmm maybe we are all criminals from a past life?