STRASBOURG — Some will miss the European Parliament; others have always hated everything it stands for. But there's one thing British MEPs seem to agree on: They've had a good time.

Even the Brexiteers' Brexiteer, Nigel Farage, said he will miss "the drama" and "theater" of the Parliament. "This is the fourth different decade I've been here," Farage told POLITICO outside the hemicycle debating chamber in Strasbourg. "It's been a massive chunk of my life, my thoughts on it are just how much fun I've had."

With the U.K. all but certain to leave the European Union on January 31, this week was the last plenary session in Strasbourg for the 73 British MEPs. They spent it clearing out their offices, being briefed on what happens when you stop being an MEP, and voting on legislation that will likely not affect them (including on setting up a Conference on the Future of Europe).

Some, Farage very much included, used the week to visit favorite restaurants and chow down on local specialities such as choucroute, tarte flambée and kugelhopf. Others posed for photos with colleagues and the EU flag.

"I feel sad because I know that when I get to the exit door, the U.K. won't have any representation here," said Caroline Voaden, a Liberal Democrat MEP, just after she gathered with fellow members of the Renew Europe group (which will be the hardest hit by Brexit as 17 of its 108 MEPs are Brits). "We now have to face the reality that we have to go home, even if we don't want to."

"It's the end of an era, it's quite depressing because it might not have been this way" — Richard Corbett, Labour MEP

"I am sad but I feel grateful for every extra day that I had here," said Luisa Porritt, another Lib Dem MEP, who only joined the Parliament after last year's European election and said she ran to defend "the millions of people who feel very strongly about us staying in the EU."

This week, she said, her main focus was "doing the job," "making the most of my last month as an MEP" and "trying to have as much impact as possible in that short space of time." That included a lunch on Tuesday with one of her constituents, Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, has been detained in Iran since 2016.

Ups and downs

In the office of veteran Labour MEP Richard Corbett, all that remained was a copy of the Lisbon Treaty and a few files.

Corbett has been an MEP (on and off) for more than two decades and contributed to fundamental institutional changes, including putting in place the co-decision procedure between Council and Parliament, and improving confirmation hearings for prospective European commissioners.

"It's the end of an era," Corbett said in his fifth floor office. "It's quite depressing because it might not have been this way. Even last October, we were in a situation that [Boris] Johnson could not get the Brexit deal through the House of Commons."

Corbett paid tribute to the Parliament for the "richness of the debates," and the coalition-building "issue by issue, amendment by amendment," which he described as different than in any national parliament. "This is a fascinating parliament," he said.

The mood was obviously much brighter among the 24 MEPs from the Brexit Party.

"I have enjoyed all the speeches, I personally love all the debates, I think it's an enormous adrenalin rush," said one of their number, Robert Rowland. "It's made me a lot better at packaging my thoughts."

Rowland is a hedge fund manager who was making his first foray into politics and said he would now go back to his old job. But he saw his short time as an MEP as a success because they managed to get the British government "to get to our way of thinking."

The Parliament plans to bid farewell to British MEPs on January 29 in Brussels.

"The Conservative Party has become the Brexit party, hasn't it? They've adopted all the policies that we put out for the general election," Rowland said. "We had to come to the institution which we want to leave in order to change the course of history."

The Conservatives were less openly jubilant. "Some of the delegation have been here many years, so of course there is an amount of sadness mixed in with pride over a job that was done pretty well, though not always understood back home," one Tory official said.

"The overwhelming feeling is that we just want to get Brexit finished and through the Parliament: finally, fairly and effectively," the official added.

So what happens now? On Monday, Parliament officials gave all British MEPs a PowerPoint presentation laying out their rights as former members of the assembly, including on pension schemes, transitional allowances, the end of contracts for assistants, as well as the number of boxes they are allowed to ship back to the U.K. at the EU's expense. They have until Thursday to clear out their stuff from Strasbourg.

A big question for those left behind is how to mark the occasion without it seeming like they were celebrating Brexit. Should there be a big farewell party or just somber goodbye drinks?

The Parliament plans to bid farewell to British MEPs on January 29 in Brussels, a spokesperson said, adding that the format of the gathering would be decided by senior MEPs on Thursday.

A Greens group official said they would host a "reception" on January 29, while the Socialists and Democrats said they would host a "farewell event" on the same day.

"It's an au revoir, not a celebration," said an S&D spokesperson.