The most disappointing thing will be that all Germans speak English "very well" and will want to impress this on you. They will hear your accent and even if you ask a question in German, 30% of the time they will answer in English. You will wonder why you even take the time to learn the language.
For pure language acquisition you will want to go to Germany because most people will speak Hochdeutsch. Austrian German will be more difficult to understand, especially for someone at your level. They speak with a very strong dialect, similar to Bavarian. Swiss German is the most extreme, and native German speakers really have to concentrate to figure out what Swiss Germans are saying.
Culturally, Austria and Germany are very similar. Austria is more alpine, has a more Catholic feel to it (even though it's just as godless as anywhere else in Western Europe), and Austrians are not afraid of national pride or speaking well about their country. The Austrians still resent losing Südtirol to the Italians in WWI. The Germans are not very patriotic and still carry the historical baggage of WWII on their shoulders and the only time you will see the German flag is at a soccer game. Germany as a whole is pretty liberal. Southern Germany is more conservative (but still liberal), and Austria is about on par with southern Germany. In both Germany and Austria the people are cold. Not unfriendly, just cold.
For your question about being united as one state, you could phrase it the other way...why didn't Germany become a part of Austria? For most of Germany's history it has been a collection of semi-independent states, and each area had its own dialect. Certain states were more powerful than others. The Habsburgs in Austria were certainly powerful, and they built an empire to the east and south and took in many different cultures and languages (they were blocked from expansion to the north by competing powers). The Germans had a couple powerful states, but ultimately it was the Prussians who united Germany and put an end to Austrian dreams of taking over Bavaria. The Prussians were not well liked in the border regions of the west, and in the south the people were culturally closer to the Austrians than the Prussians.
The Treaty of Versailles specifically forbade the unification of Germany and Austria to prevent postwar Germany from becoming too powerful.
In the early 1930s Austria was ruled by a fascist dictator named Dollfuss who outlawed the Nazi party and tried to prevent the Germans from taking over. He was assassinated in a Nazi coup, but at this point in time Austria was a buffer state for the Italians and Mussolini did not trust Hitler, and Mussolini mobilized the Italian Army on the Austrian border and threatened to invade if the Germans tried to annex Austria (just imagine how history would have been different if Germany and Italy would have gone to war in 1934 over Austria). The Germans stood down and after that Hitler started to try and win over his "frenemy" Mussolini with promises of empire and territory gains. The next time the Germans tried to take over Austria the Italians did not stand in their way.
After WWII Austria was occupied by the Allied Powers and was split into occupation zones. The Societs weren't really interested in holding Austria (not a lot of resources, not a lot of industry, not many people, lots of mountains). As a condition of Soviet withdrawl, the Austrians had to remain neutral and never be unified with Germany.
On a lighter note, the Austrians like to joke they are better than the Germans-
Österreich...das bessere Deutschland.
For pure language acquisition you will want to go to Germany because most people will speak Hochdeutsch. Austrian German will be more difficult to understand, especially for someone at your level. They speak with a very strong dialect, similar to Bavarian. Swiss German is the most extreme, and native German speakers really have to concentrate to figure out what Swiss Germans are saying.
Culturally, Austria and Germany are very similar. Austria is more alpine, has a more Catholic feel to it (even though it's just as godless as anywhere else in Western Europe), and Austrians are not afraid of national pride or speaking well about their country. The Austrians still resent losing Südtirol to the Italians in WWI. The Germans are not very patriotic and still carry the historical baggage of WWII on their shoulders and the only time you will see the German flag is at a soccer game. Germany as a whole is pretty liberal. Southern Germany is more conservative (but still liberal), and Austria is about on par with southern Germany. In both Germany and Austria the people are cold. Not unfriendly, just cold.
For your question about being united as one state, you could phrase it the other way...why didn't Germany become a part of Austria? For most of Germany's history it has been a collection of semi-independent states, and each area had its own dialect. Certain states were more powerful than others. The Habsburgs in Austria were certainly powerful, and they built an empire to the east and south and took in many different cultures and languages (they were blocked from expansion to the north by competing powers). The Germans had a couple powerful states, but ultimately it was the Prussians who united Germany and put an end to Austrian dreams of taking over Bavaria. The Prussians were not well liked in the border regions of the west, and in the south the people were culturally closer to the Austrians than the Prussians.
The Treaty of Versailles specifically forbade the unification of Germany and Austria to prevent postwar Germany from becoming too powerful.
In the early 1930s Austria was ruled by a fascist dictator named Dollfuss who outlawed the Nazi party and tried to prevent the Germans from taking over. He was assassinated in a Nazi coup, but at this point in time Austria was a buffer state for the Italians and Mussolini did not trust Hitler, and Mussolini mobilized the Italian Army on the Austrian border and threatened to invade if the Germans tried to annex Austria (just imagine how history would have been different if Germany and Italy would have gone to war in 1934 over Austria). The Germans stood down and after that Hitler started to try and win over his "frenemy" Mussolini with promises of empire and territory gains. The next time the Germans tried to take over Austria the Italians did not stand in their way.
After WWII Austria was occupied by the Allied Powers and was split into occupation zones. The Societs weren't really interested in holding Austria (not a lot of resources, not a lot of industry, not many people, lots of mountains). As a condition of Soviet withdrawl, the Austrians had to remain neutral and never be unified with Germany.
On a lighter note, the Austrians like to joke they are better than the Germans-
Österreich...das bessere Deutschland.