‘Geaux Birds!’: Two French creators fell hard for Philly — and its brutally honest charm

Paris natives Alex Durand and Tom Carles met as 12-year-olds in the Parisian suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, sharing a love for playing soccer. In 2016, as teenagers, they attended soccer camp at Eastern University in Delaware County, marking their first trip to the U.S. together.

Two years later, they moved back to the U.S. after earning scholarships to play college soccer — Durand at Malone University in Ohio and Carles at Mississippi College. But that dream was put on pause when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Unable to travel back to Paris, they moved to South Carolina and started making social media content about their experience of being Parisians living in America.

They first went viral on TikTok for their series trying to pronounce English words.

Durand, 25, and Carles, 26, are the creators behind the Instagram account AT Frenchies. With more than 2 million followers, their pandemic pastime has become a hub for learning French.

Over the years, the pair have traveled to California, Louisiana, South Carolina, and New York.

Then, they came to Philadelphia. It was unlike any other stop.

“We think most people don’t actually know how great Philly is,” said Carles. “When we came, we didn’t know much about Philly. We just had some friends living there saying it’s the best city, but we had no idea because nobody else talks about it.”

The pair partnered with the French national soccer team this year and has been following them on its World Cup journey. The June 22 France-Iraq match brought the City of Love natives to the City of Brotherly Love, so they could watch some soccer and make their usual content around visiting an American city.

Then, Philly happened to them: from cheesesteaks to water ice to being unable to stop saying “Go Birds!” or, as they pronounce it, “Gwo Beards!” or, as they write it, “Geaux Birds!”

The pair posted reels guessing the meaning behind Philly slang and celebrating French wins with the crowds in the city. Their most-viewed reel from their trip is titled “POV: Us after spending 24 hours in Philly,” in which Carles referenced Philly slang like “jawn” and “jeet,” with Durand interjecting with frequent “Go Birds!”

“I proclaim y’all as official Philly citizens,” a comment reads. “This jawn nails it. Y’all get it. You’re officially locals now,” reads another uncharacteristically positive Philadelphian’s reply.

The two stayed in Philly for about 10 days, attending France’s games against Iraq and Paraguay on June 22 and July 4, respectively. In that time, they checked out the Rodin Museum, City Hall, Reading Terminal Market, Stateside Live!, Independence Hall, the Rocky statue, and even found their way to Philly’s crown jewel: Wawa.

“Wawa is the absolute best brunch place on earth. I think we’ve tried every single thing on the menu,” said Durand, whose order is a chicken wrap and an iced latte with caramel drizzle. Carles opts for a mini hoagie with chicken and bacon.

The pair even admitted to preferring the chain to the French convenience store equivalent, Franprix.

“[Reading Terminal Market] was a little part of the city that you don’t see that often in other cities,” said Carles, who lives in New Orleans. “You can have any type of food and everybody’s so nice and wants you to try some food here and there. It’s a nice atmosphere, and you have people around that always smile and are super nice, but also if they have a bad day, they don’t hide it. It’s very brutal and honest.”

Philadelphia’s unpolished authenticity is what made the pair fall in love with the city, they said.

“People in Philly didn’t feel like they were trying too hard to impress people,” said Durand. “I live in LA and people care so much about the outside perspective of how they look and behave. But in Philly, it’s the Philly way or no way, and we loved it.”

After France beat Paraguay 1-0 and the duo headed out of Philadelphia, they posted a heartfelt thank-you message to Philadelphians on their Instagram, something they had never done for any other American city.

“Every bar we walked into during the games, every person who smiled at us wearing our jersey, every random ‘allez les bleus’ from someone we’d never met, it added up to something we didn’t expect to feel this strongly,” the post read.

“We felt like we needed to say something because we had such a good time that we wanted to thank the city for having us,” Carles said. “We wanted to show our appreciation for everything that we’ve seen of the city.”

Comments begged them to come back for an Eagles game. The Sixers official account commented, “we gotta get you back for a basketball game.”

“Stay the same,” Durand said. “Stay proud of your city. You have every reason to be proud of where you’re from.”

When they’re not following their national soccer team around and singing praises to hoagies, the two use AT Frenchies, whose social media accounts have more than 6 million followers combined, as an online center to teach French.

“We do [French classes] three or four times a week, on Zoom and in-person, and we also have teachers with us,” Carles said. The AT Frenchies French club is 3 years old and has 500 members from over 60 countries.

“It’s something that has made us super happy because we’re able to give back to our followers who want to learn French,” Carles said. “It’s been one of the most rewarding things that we’ve done in our business side of AT Frenchies.”

Philadelphia’s World Cup journey is over, but it’s certainly not the last Philly sees of Durand and Carles.

They plan to return when they tour for their upcoming book Pardon Our French, which releases Sept. 8 from Penguin Life Press. It’s a guide to embracing a minimalist, do-what-you-love Parisian lifestyle — one they think Philadelphians have already mastered.

“In Philly, you don’t really hear French but it feels French,” said Carles. “[The French mindset] is more about doing whatever makes you happy without thinking about what other people think, and that’s what Philly’s all about.”

“We were going to do one date in Philly, but now I want to try to do more than one,” Durand said. “We’ve been living in the U.S. since 2018, and no other city has made us feel this way. It’s incredible how much people have impacted our lives in 10 days.”

Their to-do for when they return? Go to an Eagles game. And a Sixers game … and maybe even a Flyers game if they can find a way to do a three-way collaboration with all the teams.

“In Paris, when [Paris-Saint Germain FC] plays, everybody’s on the streets. We’re very passionate about our teams. Tom and I have traveled to almost every big city in America, and in every city people are passionate about sports, but here?” Durand said rhetorically with an added gasp for dramatic effect.

He has even set himself a goal for his next visit: “To make Saquon Barkley pronounce ‘Go Birds!’ in the Frenchest way possible.”