An Antarctic storm pummeled a luxury cruise liner carrying 90 students from the elite Hotchkiss School in Connecticut on Sunday. According to the New York Times, the students were on a three-week trip to learn about the effects of climate change. They experienced firsthand the strength of the southern seas when their ship was hit by a 30-foot wave, which destroyed windows on the bridge, killed some electricity, and injured the captain and three crew members.

The trip was financed to a large extent by an heir to the Mars candy empire, who was also aboard the vessel. The cruise ship featured walk-in-closets, hot tubs, and large amounts of Mars candy. The waiters addressed the students as "sir" or "madam" and the children feasted on duck pâté and apple sorbet.

Unfortunately, many of the students were seasick after the storm, but when they weren't sick they were able to update their respective blogs.

"The ship, suddenly, seems to suspend itself in midair,"; Sebastian Sanchez, one of the students, wrote in one of the more dramatic blog posts on the episode. “We stand no chance on board because the elements have no emotion. They will toss and turn us, bite and rip us apart until we are nothing left but a piece of floating driftwood."

Others took a less metaphysical approach. "Dramamine became everyone’s new best friend," wrote Natalie Kawam, another student.

Though they never made it to Antarctica, as the Times points out, each student was given a far greater gift: A college essay.